Wayward Lovers
by Azallea
Summary: Clary can't let go of what Jace said about being a rash useless mundane. But when it turns out to be much more than hurt feelings everyone is in for much more than what they bargained for. Will they be able to survive?
1. Beginnings

Clary glared at herself in the mirror. She was repeating the words in her head the Jace had told her a few weeks ago. _Rash_ she yelled at herself in her head. _Reckless _she repeated in her head. Just a few short weeks ago Jace had told her all the things he felt about her. She thought about it every day, repeating the words in her head every time she failed to do some part in her training right, or she didn't understand some explanation of why Shadowhunters did this or that.

"Mundane," she muttered to herself quietly, turning away from the mirror. That was the worst one. Maybe she really was just some ordinary mundane.

"Now who are you calling a mundane?" She heard a voice from behind her and spun on the spot. Jace was leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed, a stern air about him roused up something inside her.

"It was nothing," she muttered quietly turning away from him. She pretended to rummage in a bag sitting on the bed of the room she always stayed in when she was at the Institute.

"It doesn't seem like it." Jace eyed Clary up and down while he continued to lean against the doorframe. She was wearing dark jeans with a black sweatshirt on that brought out the bright color of her red hair.

"You don't need to worry about it, okay?" Clary continued to search through her bag for some unknown object when Jace came behind her and wrapped his arms around her, whispering into her neck in a way that made her shiver.

"You know you can tell me what's wrong." She sighed but relaxed into his arms like melted butter. Regardless of how mad she might be with him she still loved him to death and wouldn't pass up the opportunity to get a bit friendly.

Jace leaned in and kissed her neck, softly at first, working his way up to her ear and nibbling on it.

"Jace," Clary whispered his name as she turned around to face him fully.

"Yes ma'am," he whispered mockingly to the very un-Jacelike phrase. Clary sighed. He had no idea what he did to her. The way she got all hot and bothered whenever he was around and thought about him day and night, how she missed him as soon as they were apart.

When she didn't answer Jace pushed Clary up against the wall behind her, growling as he did so. He brought his hands up to cup her face, kissing her gently at first. The kisses began to get more passionate as both of them began to strip the other of a few clothing articles before being interrupted by a loud bang.

"C'mon you guys. Just because you two aren't related anymore doesn't mean you have to make out every two seconds," Isabelle sighed putting a hand on her hip.

"Can't you just mind your own damn business for once?" Jace scowled at her and she laughed.

"Nope, dinner's ready." Jace rolled his eyes, however Clary stayed silent not wanting to make a fuss.

"I'm not eating whatever you made," Jace turned back to Clary wrapping his arms around her waist about to pull her in for another kiss when Isabelle groaned loudly.

"I didn't make it. It's take out. Just come eat before mom has a cow or something, will you?" She huffed and closed the door.

"We should go eat," Clary said decidedly. Jace looked down at her and tightened his grip on her right thigh.

"I'm not hungry," he muttered quietly, leaning in to kiss her neck before she pulled away.

"Well I am, okay?" she pulled away glaring at him.

"Clary wait," he called out after her when she left the room kicking the door shut as she left. She didn't respond to him.

A few hours later, Clary sat on her bed, staring at her sketchpad. Most of it was filled with sketches of Jace wherever he may have been at the time of her random burst of inspiration. The most recent one was Jace sleeping. She was trying to get his eyes just right on the paper but she couldn't seem to capture the way his hair dangled in front of his eyes. By now the page was filled with eraser marks and scribbles all over where his hair was supposed to be and she threw the sketchpad to the ground, abandoning it completely.

She ventured to the shower stripping all of her clothes and turning on the warm water. After enjoying the combination of soap and water for what seemed like hours she turned to find a towel. After searching for a couple of minutes she was only able to find one pretty small one, so she wrapped it around herself and went out to her bedroom.

She nearly dropped the white towel at the sight of Jace sitting on her bed flipping through her sketchpad.

"What the hell are you doing in here!" she yelled at him and attempted to grab the sketchbook from him. With the speed of a shadowhunter Jace was easily able to dodge her grasp.

"What's up with you today?" He dropped the book onto the bed and started to push her against the wall. Clary shoved him back with a new found strength and grasps the towel tightly when it started to fall off her still wet skin.

"Just stay away from me!" Clary was screaming and she knew it. In fact she made a point of getting a bit louder. She was sick of the constant kissing as irresistible as he was, she just couldn't let go of what he said about her.

"Clary, calm down," he took a step towards her reaching out his hand but she pulled back.

"Just stay away from me," she repeated to him coolly and walked out of the room.

**Okay. So first fanfic about this story. It's a bit short and slow right now, but I dunno. Comments please if I'm going to continue this. I can make it better. **

**XOXO Azallea**


	2. Devotion

Clary plopped down on the bed of one of the empty rooms in the institute. She was tired and was in dire need of sleep. After pacing around the room in an attempt to gather her thoughts she decided to go get some clothes. If Jace was in her room, she would go find Isabelle, who would probably have some clothes somewhere that she could borrow, even if they were a bit too big.

With a white towel wrapped tightly around her body, Clary pressed on towards the bedroom lightly careful not to make any noise on the way there. She hadn't passed anyone in the hall on her way there but she felt as though she was trespassing. She poked her head into her bedroom, and finding it empty slipped in to retrieve some clothes.

When she was about to leave she found her sketchpad lying open on the floor. She was sure that Jace had left it on the bed so she bent down to pick it up. It was flipped open to a mostly blank page. Written in the top right corner was a small rune that she was unsure of what it meant. It was swirling and methodical, beautiful at that. She tried to place what it was but couldn't. Instead she flipped the sketchbook closed and returned stealth like to the empty bedroom.

Wayward Lovers… Wayward Lovers...

Jace woke up startled, though he was unsure of why. After placing himself in his room, he gathered himself and went down to see if he could find something to eat. Since it was only six in the morning barely anyone was up. He himself was surprised that he had slept this long at all.

It was then that the events of last night clouded his mind and he remembered why he was asleep. He often slept more when he was stressed out. He found a bagel and spread some cream cheese on it, thinking of Clary. He didn't know why she was so mad at him all of a sudden. She said the word mundane, so his mind immediately flicked to Simon, before he remembered that he was a vampire, and no longer a mundane.

He tossed the uneaten piece of bagel in the trash and started down the hallway to find Clary. When he passed the training room he heard the familiar voice of Isabelle. But it was when he heard his name that he stopped.

"So nothing happened? That's why you were screaming at Jace last night?" she demanded.

"I told you, you just don't need to worry about it," he heard a grunt and figured Isabelle was helping her with some kind of training.

"You were screaming your head off last night!" exclaimed Isabelle. Jace ducked behind some equipment sitting in the corner of the room, tilting his head up to hear a bit better.

"Will you just let it go, Isabelle?" Clary sounded royally pissed and proved it by pushing Isabelle back down on the mat. From what Jace could see they were practicing some stuff for hand to hand combat training. From what he had seen Clary was definitely getting a lot better at what she did, and especially proved it when she was mad or frustrated with her trainer and wanted to stop. Isabelle picked up on that.

"Why don't we take a break so you can tell me?" She tilted her head to the side and tried to use that charming smile of hers to sway Clary's mind. But Clary shook her head.

"I want to keep training." She took a couple steps back when Isabelle grunted and stood, getting into a pretty good fighting stance.

"Well I don't! Why are you up at six in the morning anyways? You always sleep in."

"I couldn't sleep," she muttered quietly, glancing down for a moment, but quickly catching herself and wiping her face of emotion before getting back into a good stance.

"So something is bothering you?" Isabelle got into an equally good if not better stance and poised herself to defend.

"No," Clary said a bit too quickly.

"It's Jace isn't it?" Isabelle dodged a weak attempt in trying to get her in an arm lock. When Clary stayed quiet she laughed. "You love him," she mused, making the 'o' long and drawn out and making swooning motions as she did so.

"No I don't!" Clary shouted, shoving a surprised Isabelle down on the ground. She stormed towards and Isabelle crab walked backwards in an attempt to back away. Being as surprised as she was, she didn't get too far. "If you would stop bursting in anywhere you please acting like you own the world, maybe I would talk to you more. But instead you decide to flaunt around and get in everyone's business."

Jace was surprised. Not to the fact that she had snapped on Isabelle but the fact that she said that she didn't love him. He felt his chest drop when she told him and his head was spinning as he tried to pay attention to the ongoing drama. Isabelle muttered something that he couldn't hear from his station behind the equipment.

"This has nothing to do with Jace! Will you let it go! I don't care about him at all." Her voice got shriller as she spoke and started to crack a bit. Jace hoped it meant that she didn't mean at all what she said. His heart dropped at the thought that she didn't care about him at all.

Clary stalked out of the room, her ponytail bouncing as she did. Isabelle stood up slowly, but stayed glued to the spot.

"You really fucked up this time Jace," she shook her head.

"How did I fuck up? She's the one ranting about how she hates me." Isabelle shrieked and looked back at Jace stunned.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" She gathered herself before turning to face him.

"How did I fuck up?" he repeated.

"How long have you been in here?"

"Long enough," he muttered lowly, keeping his eyes locked steadily on her.

"You just randomly stalk people in the training room in your spare time?" She put her hands on her hips in an attempt to look authoriative.

"No, can we get back to the point. What the hell did I do?" He could hear the irritation in his voice clear as day but at this point he didn't care at all. He was willing to do anything to know what he had done to make Clary so upset with him.

"You don't remember. In the city you said all those things to her? You destroyed her." She was looking at him searchingly, eyeing him up and down. It was like he was some sort of criminal by the look in the steely eyes that she was giving him.

"She needed to stay safe. You know that," his eyes lowered and he spoke quietly.

"You didn't need to say all those things to her just to get her to leave."

"Isabelle, she's THE most stubborn person in the whole world, and probably in others. She wouldn't have left unless I dragged her by the hair, and you know it"

"Then you should've done that!" she screamed. She turned towards the door and left. Jace was tired of seeing woman walk away from him but he was too tired to do a thing about it.

Wayward Lovers… Wayward Lovers…

Clary was sitting on her bed staring at the unknown Rune. She knew that she should've known what it was but she couldn't piece it together. It was too elegant to be a battle rune but at the same time it was powerful. She could tell that much on her own. Instead she picked up her own pencil and drew it over and over. She followed the lines perfectly but still wasn't able to piece together what it was she was actually drawing.

She decided that she was going to find out. But to do that she would need a stele, which would mean going to the weapons room and risking running into either Isabelle, or even worse Jace. The curiosity overwhelmed her so she finally got up off the bed to find one taking her sketchbook with her.

She sped down the hallway where she knew Jace's room was, keeping quiet as a mouse. She gave a sigh of relief when she saw the door, not running into either of them.

The relief was short lived when she hurried into the room she ran into someone. Clary looked into the golden eyes of Jace, who was staring her down intently. She gasped and took a step back, but Jace took a hold of her arms, and brought her body close up against his.

"I need to talk to you," he said quickly.

"I don't want to talk to you, okay?" She attempted to pull back, but with the strength and experience that Jace had, was unsuccessful.

"Do you really hate me?" He let go of her arms when she tugged one last time. She looked up at him with wide eyes.

"What?"

"You told Isabelle you hate me. In the training room. Do you?" He spoke quickly, and Clary noticed that his hands were shaking. He did not have the usual confidence that she usually paired up with Jace.

"How did you-"she started but was cut off.

"Please just answer me!" When he took a step forward she restrained herself from moving back.

"I don't hate you," she whispered. Something was different about him. Something was definitely wrong. He looked relieved as she noticed that she dropped her sketchbook. It was open to the page with the rune. Jace followed her gaze, and settled on it. She quickly bent down to pick it up and tucked it under her arm.

"I..have to go," said Clary. She was no longer interested in getting a stele. She would find a way to do that later. Right now she wanted to get as far away from Jace as possible, regardless of how badly she wanted to go.

"Clary, please stay." He put a hand on her arm that sent shivers through her whole entire body.

"I'll see you later." She pulled back from him and started down the hallway to her room, not to the old one but the one she stayed in last night.

"Clary!" Jace called out again. She turned on the spot. There was a good twenty feet between the two of them.

"The rune," he looked down, and she could've sworn she saw him blush. "It's devotion." With that, both parties turned to walk to the opposite side of the hallway.

**Author Note:**

**Let me start off by saying that I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of comments that I got and I wanted to thank all of you who did comment. That's why I made this chapter so fast. I hope it lived up to your standards, and if it's not, please PM me or something because I do want to get better.**

**I also wanted to note something that someone else put down that was a great point. I'm not going to have them constantly making out every chapter, because honestly as much as I LOOOVE make out scenes. I would get bored reading them constantly. In the books, I would treasure every make out scene because they were so well written and rare. I don't know if I will do any lemons or not but I'll wait to see my comments and if you guys want, I will attempt. It's not my area of expertise. **

**Thank you again and I hope to hear from you all. XOXO Azallea **


	3. Overworking

"Devotion," Clary muttered to herself, patting her hair dry with a towel. "Devotion, my ass."

Clary was sitting at the edge of her new bedroom's door later that night. In order to make sure that no one found her when she wanted to be alone, she switched bedrooms to one a couple of doors down. Jace had no right to sit there and act like he loved her when she knew that he didn't. He thought she was some stupid mundane, and would always think that way. She huffed and threw the brush down on the bed and began pacing around her room with arms crossed over her chest.

"Mundane," the word was bitter on her mouth. When she first met Jace, and he called her that she didn't mind it. But now she knew that she was a shadowhunter. She knew that she had every right to be there as he did. So what if she got a late start?

'_Well last time we got in a fight with a demon all you did was scream and cower.'_ She remembered Alec said something like that some time ago. It was still imprinted in her brain like someone took a stamp and put it on her forehead.

"Well, if I'm going to be as good as them, I'll need to start right away," said Clary to no one in particular. _Now I'm talking to myself. _Clary groaned inwardly and flopped down on the bed. She would train night and day until she was as good as Jace. Well, she admitted in an afterthought, almost as well as Jace.

Wayward Lovers….Wayward Lovers….

Jace was pacing in his room running his hands through his hair. He rarely ever lost his cool like that. And the fact that he actually wrote that in Clary's sketchpad! Stupid! Jace kicked his dresser angrily causing the wood to splinter in half. He stopped and took a step back. Jace Lightwood did not break down into tears like a little girl, he was always calm, cool, and collected.

He smelled the familiar smell of takeout from the kitchen. He glanced at his clock; 8:49. Pretty late to be eating, but then again Isabelle was a terrible cook. He wandered his way towards the kitchen, hoping to catch Clary along the way but had no luck. He took a breath at the door. 'Stay calm, Lightwood' he told himself. With that thought he burst into the kitchen loudly, announcing himself loudly.

"What's for dinner?" he said stretching a bit and scanning the room. Huddled around the counter was only Alec and Isabelle, and Jace could tell that he had interrupted a deep conversation by the looks on their faces and when Alec jumped back yelling in surprise.

"Jesus!" Alec just stared at him, and Jace made sure to keep a smirk on her face.

"Actually, my name is Jace. But I've been told I similarity is stunning." Jace grabbed a box of takeout from the counter and started attacking it with a fork in hand. After the awkward silence it was Isabelle who broke it.

"Have you seen Clary," she asked slowly as though the slightest mention of her would break him in half.

"Nope," he said calmly with his mouth full of food.

"She's not in her room, and some of her stuff is gone," she said quietly.

"She's gone?" Jace swallowed his food quickly and felt his blood go hot. She goes missing much more than the average vixen should.

"I just saw her an hour ago and she said she was going to bed," Alec intervened.

"You're sure she's not in bed?" Jace asked looking at Isabelle. "You do tend to overreact to small things." Isabelle's face went bright red and she glared at him with anger he had rarely seen directed towards him at least.

"Will you stop doing that?" She exclaimed loudly slamming her food down on the counter causing some of the contents to be spilled out on to the counter.

"What? Looking outrageously attractive?" he jeered at her. Normally this would have just caused a normal brother sister sort of banter but Jace could see that Isabelle was pissed and there was no stopping what was about to come.

Isabelle picked up a wooden spoon off of the counter and flung it at Jace. With his usual reflexes he would've been able to dodge it, but with all the distractions lately he simply put up his arms to block the blow from his face.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU!" She screamed at him. Alec stood in front of her trying to block any further fury from Jace. He was trying to say some calming things to her and hold her back. But she continued to spit hateful words at him while Alec pulled her out of the room. He didn't know what her deal was. She was rarely this angry at all and it had never been towards him any of the time. Maybe a couple times when they were very little but this was just out of control.

"What's going on?" Jace spun on the spot to find Clary, hair still wet from what appeared to be a shower. She grabbed a box of food without even giving him the slightest glance, staying focused on the direction where the shouting was coming from.

"Isabelle went off again," he shrugged keeping his face clam, hoping she was no longer upset with him. He looked at the way he shirt hugged her curves perfectly and how her hair dangled just barely in front of her face while she ate her food. Her green eyes glowed brightly, and he took a hesitant step towards her that she didn't seem to know it. She was wolfing down the food like it was her last meal and put the box on the counter.

"Hey, did you want to-" Jace started, but he was cut off. He wasn't sure what he was going to ask her but it didn't matter anymore.

"I'm going to bed," Clary said, turning on the spot causing her hair to spin around her and shine under the lights of the kitchen.

"Clary," he called out.

"Good night," she sang out. She sounded happy, very happy.

Wayward Lovers….Wayward Lovers….

Jace woke up early like he always did. Not that he slept much that night. It was only four in the morning, but he was wide awake. Dreams of Clary flooded his mind even though he was doing his best to block her out. After she seemed so happy the previous night Jace decided that he was going to do his best to block her out, so that he wouldn't have to deal with the pain the accompanied her living perfectly without him when he could never do anything without her.

When he passed the training room her heard a grunting noise. He peered into the room and saw Clary attacking a punching bag. She looked exhausted, the kind of exhaustion that she got when she had been training for at least a couple of hours.

"Clary," he said quietly at first then repeated it louder. "Clary." She turned around and looked at him, eyed him up and down. After scanning him a couple of times she returned her attention back to the punching back at her disposal.

"What are you doing?" he asked her. She hardly ever trained this early and when she did, it was grudgingly and usually done with a lot of complaining. As far as Jace could tell no one was here with her, and why would they be at such an early hour?

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she asked. Her stance was getting quite good, and he watched her for a bit before asking another question.

"How long have you been up?" he called out over the sound of punches and grunts from a tired girl.

"A couple hours," she shrugged off. Normally he expected her to lie to him and say that she was only up for a bit but she shrugged it off as though he were talking to Simon.

"You should be in bed," he told her crossing his arms over his chest.

"So should you," she panted out, glancing at him again.

"You need to stop," he told her firmly. She turned to face him fully.

"Stop what?" she tilted her head to the side causing a couple of beads of sweat to run down her face.

"This," I exclaimed. "Training. You're doing fine, you don't need extra." Something boiled up inside me when she shrugged and turned back to the punching bag. He could tell by the dark circles under her eyes that she hadn't slept a full night in a couple of days, and the training constantly wasn't helping. He wasn't about to let her ruin herself by tearing her own body apart piece by piece. Clary seemed to notice my blood boiling because when I opened my mouth to say something she cut me off.

"I'll stop in a bit, okay?" she smirked at me, and my heart fluttered at the glow in her eyes. My legs melted and I agreed reluctantly, deciding to get some fresh air.

Wayward Lovers….Wayward Lovers….

(**Accidently wrote this in first person so…pretend it's like all the other parts, because I'm too lazy to go back and change it… Sorry. Obviously Jace's P.O.V.)**

My fresh air turned out to be a six hour walk, all around the city. I saw more people than I had in a long time, all of them running to get to work on time, some going to school and others just enjoying the area.

When I returned the training room, Clary was still there. She was still punching away at that bag, though her stance was much worse. Her shoulders drooped in agony of the over exercising and her arms hung limply until she forced them up.

"Clary!" I came up behind her and she turned to face me. No smirk was on her face this time, just a tired one. "You said that you were going to stop."

"I will stop"

"It's been six hours, Clary! That's too long. Even for me! And God knows how long you were in here before I found you." She shrugged simply.

"I've just been training, Jace. You told me I need to practice hand to hand combat last week, didn't you?" She turned to face the punching bag again but I grabbed her arm roughly and made her face me.

"I didn't mean go crazy with it!"

"I'm almost done. Relax." I saw a flash of amusement in her eyes, like she knew that I would get angry.

"No. You're done now." I gripped her arm tightly and started pulling her towards the door but I was distracted by a blow to the stomach. "What was that for?" I grunted. Despite her tiredness she was still very strong.

"I'm not done yet. Just leave me alone will you?" That stirred up something inside me so strong that I simply picked her up over my shoulder. Despite her fighting abilities getting better I was still much better than her. She punched at my back trying to get me to let go of her.

"Let go of me you bastard!" she screamed at me.

"No way Clary," I said laughing and shaking my head. Despite her being furious with me, this was still a pretty amusing situation.

I felt a sharp pain when she grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled it as hard as her position would allow. I yelled out and since she was draped over my shoulder I reached up and smacked her on the bottom. This caused her to go madly insane and she started kicking wildly. Normally I would laugh but instead, I turned into the nearest empty bedroom I stormed in and flung her on the bed.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" She yelled at me, and clutched the sheets tightly, knowing that I would be able to catch her if she tried to escape. I loomed over her darkly.

"What do you mean what's the matter with me? You're the one screaming at me every chance you get and nearly killing yourself trying to train your heart out!"

"You know I need to catch up to you guys!"

"Catch up? Clary you just started for Christ's sake. You aren't going demon hunting next week. It takes a while."

"No. I'm not that useless!" I stared at her.

"Who the hell said you were useless? You've saved us more than enough and you didn't even know about us a couple of months ago."

"You did!" She screamed at me. He face was red with anger and her knuckles were white, gripping the sheets of the bed.

"Clary," I sighed. "It was to get you to leave!"

"You could've asked!"

"And you would've listened?" She didn't answer to this. "I didn't think so!"

"Well you didn't have to say that!" he eyes were filling with tears and her grip on the bed was easing.

"Clary," I whispered quietly, leaning down on the bed. "I was under stress. I needed you safe."

"I could've stayed safe."

"Dammit Clary!" I stood up, slamming my fists onto the wall before turning back to her. "Don't you understand?"

She stood up, staying close to the bed. "Understand what?" she shouted. "That you hate me?" I walked up to her quickly causing her to gasp, grabbed her by the shoulders, and shook her.

"I can't lose you!" I heard my voice crack and repeated quieter. "I can't lose you…" She stayed quiet, looking deep into my eyes and I gazed into hers. She didn't say anything and I saw her glance down at my lips then back up at my eyes. Being this close brought back memories like the first time I kissed her in the greenhouse.

"Jace," she breathed out. I could feel her tense body melt into my firm hold on her shoulders. I couldn't tell what she was thinking like I normally could.

"I can't lose you," I repeated. I knew it sounded pathetic and I scolded myself inwardly but it was true.

**Author Note time! **

**Okay! Awesome thought that made me laugh. For all of you who know LMAO's song Sexy and I know it. I was listening to it today, I swear, I pictured Jace walking up and down a street to that song. I was laughing so hard. I mean seriously! Listen to the song it's totally him! Anyways, back to the story. (P.S. do we know who's playing him in the movie? Cause I would love you forever if someone told me!)**

**How'd you like it? I usually don't post much unless provoked by comments. So I'd say new chapter 2-3 weeks? Unless your comments make me think otherwise (wink wink nudge nudge) Bah. I dunno. Feel like crap so my stories might not be as good. Please comment. **

**XOXOXO **


	4. Meltdown

Clary woke up dizzy and confused. She tried to recall the last night's event but she just couldn't. She remembered talking to Jace and then everything just went black unexpectedly. Now she was here, in what she was pretty sure was the same room that the two of them were in last night. She groaned and put her hand on her head. She sat up groggily but immediately sat back down due to the dizziness.

"Dammit," she cursed to no one in particular. Her arms and legs felt like heavy wet noodles that hurt when she moved them. Then she thought of something. Jace. He must've done this to her. He was the only one with her last night. Clary got up again, very slowly this time so she wasn't as dizzy. She leaned against the wall for a couple of seconds to stabilize herself before shuffling to the door.

When she stumbled out the door she dropped to the ground. She heard a gasp then felt a strong hand close around her shoulder to help her up. The first person Clary thought of was Jace but when she turned around she found Alec.

"Are you okay?" He kneeled down next to her while she sat against the wall.

"I think so," she said in a half whisper.

"Well then why exactly are you tripping over your own two feet?" Clary could tell that his heart was not in the sarcasm.

"I don't know," Clary said. She scanned Alec up and down while he searched her like an open book.

"Jace said you weren't feeling well yesterday," he said quietly.

"What do you mean?" She asked, trying to hide her interest under a blank face.

"I don't know," Alec shrugged. "Yesterday Isabelle was going to help you with some training and he said that you weren't feeling well."

"Wasn't feeling well?"

"Yeah, he said you went to bed," Alec shrugged and stood up, offering a hand for Clary to take.

"Oh," Clary said breathlessly, masking her fury under a small smile. "Well I'm doing much better now." Alec raised an eyebrow at her.

"You show that by tripping?"

"There was something on the floor," Clary said impatiently. "Listen I have to go train." Clary turned to leave but felt Alec's grip on her arm once again.

"About that," he said slowly, "We all agreed that you shouldn't be training without one of us with you." Clary pulled her arm away, trying to keep herself calm.

"All of you?" She felt her voice crack and bit her lip.

"Well," he ran a hand through his hair. "Me, Jace, and Isabelle."

"Why I've trained on my own plenty of times," she took a step back from him. Alec stared at her intently.

"I know Clary, but-"

"But what! You think I'm a mundane. That I'll always be one! That I'm not good enough to train on my own?" Clary shouted and she felt her voice rising in pitch. She had no idea where the sudden surge of anger had come from. Alec took a step back like the force of her yelling would blow him over.

"Clary no one thinks that," he said quietly. "You've saved us, more than once."

"He's right," Clary turned to see Jace who was behind her. His arms were crossed evenly over his chest.

"Are you sure?" She said quietly at first then got louder. "Are you sure you aren't just saying that to keep me from whining?"

"Clary, what the hell?" Jace raised his hands in surrender, still keeping the calm expression on his face but his eyes were puzzled. All the things that she heard that day despite all the good times they had had since then spilled over like a molten volcano. She wanted to prove that she was just as good as them. No even better. Not in a year or two, but now.

"Is that why you've been following me around so much, huh?" She asked. Clary had never felt this angry and it must've shown because Jace even took a step back. "Making sure I don't get one of you killed?"

"What?" Jace looked panicky and she laughed out loud causing him look at her confused. "Clary what are you talking about?"

"Oh it doesn't matter Jace," she muttered, glaring at him for all she was worth. She couldn't even tell what was going around her. She was filled completely with white hot anger. She didn't feel that anger the day she heard him tell her this, she just felt dead. But now she was boiling with anger, but strangely enough it wasn't towards Jace. It was towards herself. She realized that he was right. She always ruined everything.

"What do you mean it doesn't matter? Just tell me, what's wrong?"

"Um," Alec spoke from behind them. "I'm going to go now" He quickly scurried off to find somewhere else to be.

Jace took a step towards her and she drew back sharply let out a low sound from her throat.

"Just stay away from me, okay?"

"Clary, I'm not going to just ignore you." He stopped trying to advance on her.

"Why? You were perfectly able to do that in Idris," she said coldly. He looked hurt for a moment than his eyes brightened as though he had realized something amazing.

"Clary. You need to believe me! I just needed you to leave!"

"Needed me to leave! If I was in New York when Valentine killed you, you'd still be dead right now!" His face drained of all color and when he spoke next his voice was choked up.

"I wanted you to be safe." He shook his head as though trying to forget something then went back to his normal smooth voice. "I know you saved me. I told you, I love you more than anything no matter how hard I try."

"And I needed to stay with you." She felt a lump inside her throat and it began to grow bigger. "I needed to know that everyone was okay."

"I'm sorry Clary," She looked up into his golden eyes. Jace Wayland never said sorry to anyone. Ever. He took another step towards her and she didn't draw back this time. He took this as a sign of encouragement because he took another step towards he until only a few inches separated the two of them. Clary felt her heart rate speed up as she kept her eyes locked on Jace's.

"What happened last night," she whispered to him.

"What do you mean?" he looked lost, as he gazed at her hungrily.

"Why was I asleep? I don't remember anything."

"I put a sleeping rune on you," he admitted not looking at all remorseful. Clary was about to take a step back from him when he reached out and held her firmly by the shoulders so she couldn't move.

"Why?" she breathed out. The closeness of it all was overwhelming her senses.

"I told you. I can't lose you, not again. And if that means I have to handcuff you to me and make sure you don't I'll do that." He stated firmly. Clary didn't say anything at all. She stayed silent looking up at him.

Her heart beat rapidly while she saw him lean in close to her and her body fluttered when his lips brushed hers. She didn't know what to feel at all. She just stared at him when he pulled back. He didn't go in for more but he stroked her cheek gently.

Wayward Lovers….Wayward Lovers

Jace was true to his word. He monitored Clary like a hawk. When they trained together he went all out on her. Then he would stop and tell her that they were done. When Alec or Isabelle trained her he would come in and watch, keeping an eye on what they were doing. He would watch as she ate and Clary could've sworn she heard her door open in the middle of the night while she was sleeping just big enough for his head to fit in.

"Jace we can keep going for a bit," she pleaded with him but he shook his head.

"We've trained enough for one day. Besides you're all sweaty enough, as is," he said with a twinkle in his eyes. She pouted at him and he shook his head sternly at her.

"Just a couple more minutes." Clary usually didn't mind stopping early with Jace's training but she was getting quite good at it. She was confident that she was close to mastering hand to hand combat seeing as all three of them were constantly on it with her.

"Not going to happen," he said turning around. A spark shot through Clary and she grinned. She reached out one of her legs, wrapped it around both of Jace's and pulled it towards her so Jace fell face first onto the mat. She laughed out loud.

"So that's how it's going to be?" He turned around and did the same move to Clary but from lying down. She yelped and fell. As soon as she hit the floor Jace was on top of her pinning her hands to the mat and smirking at her. Clary kneed him in the chest causing a temporary distraction enough for her to push him off and stand up getting into a good stance.

He looked at her curiously. "Not going to happen Clary."

"You sure about that?"

"Positive, look we're going out in a couple hours. Go shower and get dressed?"

"I don't think so, angel boy," he stood up and stared her down.

"Clary?"

Clary pulled off what Jace would call a perfectly executed drop kick right then and there. He cried out and looked up at her.

"What? Can't handle it?" She put on foot on his chest and leaned into him, still standing. He grabbed her leg and tugged at it, causing her to fall on top of him. The sudden closeness caused tightness in her chest.

She and Jace hadn't kissed since he told her that he was making sure that she didn't hurt herself anymore in her training, but that was a week ago. They hadn't been very intimate since then. Clary sat up nervously.

"I'll go take that shower now," she said quickly and turned to leave. Jace remained on the floor and shook his head as she left.

"Oh Clary," he muttered to himself. "You have no idea."

**Author's Note:**

**What did you think of it? I've been literally dying of sickness the past two days and since I have nothing else to do now that I can actually move without feeling like I'm going to die I figured 'Hey, why not write something' So please comment. Thanks for letting me know who's playing Jace. **

**I wish they had chose Alex Pettyfer like someone told me they were doing to be honest. He just looks like a better Jace. But I'll still go see it. Anywho! Please, please, please comment to make me happy? Maybe comments will make my sore throat go away. **


	5. Confrontation

Several hours later Jace roamed the hallways of the institute freely replaying the night's events over in his head. When the four of them went out to eat it was very quiet and almost awkward. None of them talked accept to order their preferred dishes and then the only noise was the scraping of forks on plates. The car ride home was equally quiet as no one dared to meet each other's gaze. Once they reached the Institute everyone practically sprinted for the safety of their bedroom. Everyone that is, except for Jace.

Jace opened what was probably the fiftieth door he tried and he wore once severely. Clary had to be in one of these rooms. She ran right...or was it left? What did it matter anyways? She wasn't going to talk to him; she would just ignore him like she had been for the past god knows how many weeks now. He felt the rumbling feeling in his chest whenever he was close to her but wasn't able to do anything.

He was about to hurry back to his own room in frustration when he heard a door open and close that he knew for sure didn't belong to anyone. He quickly hurried down to the sound of the door and opened a couple of doors before he came to the one he knew belonged to Clary. There was faint glow of light from a lamp in the corner and the room smelled of some sort of candle.

Jace didn't bother to knock because he knew that she would ignore it or pretend she wasn't there. He simply poked his head into the door and found her sitting on her bed sketching absently, one hand supporting her chin. She looked withdrawn and her hair hung in front of her face as she moved the pencil back and forth. Jace took a deep breath and with the stealthiness of a shadowhunter slipped through the door and closed the door behind him quietly. She still didn't look up. He was thankful for the dim light to hide in the shadows of the doorway. She let out a quiet, but troubled sigh.

"Clary," he spoke quietly, not caring whether or not it sounded pathetic. All of his thoughts day and night were focused on the fiery red head that he loved to death. He wanted to hold her and kissed her and was tired of being pushed away. If that meant sounding like some love struck teenager he would do it. She glanced up at him, her face brightened up than went into a slight frown.

"What do you want, Jace," Clary clutched the sketchbook tightly. She was unsure of whether to be excited that he was actually talking to her or mad because of the events that occurred.

"I want you." When she looked at him funny he said quickly, "I can't handle you being mad at me anymore."

"I'm not mad at you," she murmured quietly brushing back a piece of stray hair hanging in front of her eyes.

"Then why won't you talk to me at all?" Jace let out an exasperated breath.

"I do talk to you," her voice wavered a bit so she covered it with a slightly sarcastic response. "We do train together, you know." He didn't seem to notice that her heart was not in the sarcasm.

"Other than that," he said throwing a hand in the air flippantly. He took a few steps towards the bed but stopped about halfway unsure if he was welcome there.

"Well," Clary shrugged a bit.

"Well what?" He said clenching his hands in fists to keep them from shaking.

"I don't know Jace, okay? I don't know."

"What did I do that was so damn bad?"

"You still don't know!" Clary stood up face growing pink with rage.

"I know but I told you, I didn't mean any of it!"

"Sure sounded like you meant it when you were screaming at me."

"I know, okay?"

"No it's not okay!"

"I know it isn't!"

"Then why do you keep saying so?"

"Stop," Jace ran a hand hurriedly through hair.

"I won't stop, Jace!"

Clary continued to rant about something Jace wasn't sure of he just clenched his fists tightly and stared at her unable to make out the words she was saying.

"Stop," he muttered again. He saw her get even angrier and just took a deep breath. This isn't working at all, he thought to himself. He stared at her, remembering the first time that he had laid eyes on her in Pandemonium. He thought of all the times they spent together and her smile flashed in his mind.

He closed the final border between them cupping her face in his hands and brought his lips above hers.

**Authors Note**

…**You all hate me..dont you? I've been a terrible author, I know. I ignored you all…but to be honest, my life really sucks right now so this is the best I can do for now. Next chapter will be up in…god idk…**

**Comments please?**


	6. Confessions

Clary gasped as Jace's hands cupped her face and brought her towards him. She closed her eyes as she felt his lips on hers, moving sweetly and slowly. She melted into his embrace savoring the taste of him, ignoring the anger that still rumbled deep inside her. She slowly moved her arms up his and eventually they wrapped themselves around his neck. She was hungry for him. She wanted to hold him and love him forever. But at the same time, she wanted to kill him. The contradicting voices in her head screamed at her while she felt herself accepting Jace's kisses more and more.

Jace's head was spinning too. When he felt her arms go around his neck his whole heart might as well have exploded. He was unsure whether or not he was forgiven or this was just some sort of mind games. The irritation he felt toward Clary settled in the back of his mind and he just took her for all that she was.

Clary took a gasp as they pulled apart, not even realizing that she was longing for air the whole time. She looked up at him straight into his golden eyes which were blazing down at her.

"Clary," he breathed. With that, she broke down. The lump in her throat grew enormous and a few tears spilled over. "Clary," he sounded more concerned this time. "Was it something I did?"

Clary shook her head quickly. "I'm sorry," she choked out with a few tears. She cursed herself inwardly and quickly wiped her eyes with her hand to try to get rid of the wretched tears as quickly as possible.

"Clary what's wrong?" Jace hooked a finger under her chin and brought her eyes to meet his which only caused her to let out more tears of frustration. She hated crying, let alone in front of Jace.

"I don't know," she buried her face into Jace's shirt when he pulled her into him. She felt his hand rubbing her back gently and she took a raged breath. "Everything is just messed up in my head."

"I know what you mean," he admitted.

"No," she said quickly. "It's not like that. Just my head hurts all the time, and the voices in my head just scream at me all the time, and the nightmares."

"Nightmares? What nightmares?" Jace interrupted.

"I keep having these nightmares all the time, I can't help it."

"What are they about." She sniffled a bit but didn't answer him. "Clary?"

"You," she whispered clinging onto his shirt a bit.

"Me," he asked. When she nodded he asked, "What about me?

"You keep disappearing and I can't find you. And there's Valentine and Sebastian and-"

Jace cut her off quickly. "Valentine's in your dreams?"

"Yes, why?"

"Clary, he's dead. He can't hurt you."

"Sebastian's not dead," she mumbled then said, "Sorry," when she felt Jace's shoulder slump a bit.

Jace sighed and pulled Clary back onto the bed positioning her so that she was facing him straddling his lap. Normally he would've said some sarcastic remark about something kinky but instead he brought her face up to his so he could look her in the eyes instead.

"How long have they been going on?" He kept his hands where they were to keep her from looking away.

"A month," she whispered.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you would think that I'm being stupid," she tried to look away from him but he kept his eyes on hers.

"Clary look at me," he said sharply causing her to face him immediately. "Nightmares are serious things. In our world they can lead to some pretty bad stuff." She just sighed and focused her attention on his lips rather than his eyes. "What other stuff has been going on?"

"Why does it matter?" Jace rolled his eyes a bit at her. She clearly didn't understand the severity of what happened when shadowhunters had nightmares like that.

"Can you just tell me please?"

"Tell me why first," she demanded. He sighed and looked at her. She simply looked up at him with her big green eyes and that was enough to convince him.

"Sometimes, when shadowhunters have nightmares that bad it means that their minds been tampered with and it usually drives them slowly into madness."

"You won't let me fight any demons," she pointed out.

"I know I won't," he said dismissively.

"Then it clearly wasn't a demon," she pointed out. "And-" But she was cut off from her next rant by Jace bringing her lips to hers again. He pulled away almost immediately causing her to pout at him.

"Start talking," he urged her. She sighed and looked up at him pleadingly. He simply raised an eyebrow at her and she slumped her shoulders in defeat.

"I dunno. I just feel so angry and sad all the time. And these voices in my head are driving me insane. And I can see my nightmares sometimes when I'm awake. Like when I," she choked up.

"When you what?" Jace wasn't playing around anymore. He didn't care if his questions made Clary upset anymore.

"When I talk to you, there's these images that play through my head. And you…" he voice got quiet again.

"I what?" He was starting to grow impatient. Whether it was from the lack of sleep or the irritation of not seeing Clary or just seeing her mad at him he didn't know.

"You die," she whispered.

"I die?" Jace had gotten quiet too. He let go of his grip on Clary and he face fell and she looked at the floor. When he looked at her he didn't feel angry anymore. He hadn't noticed before, but she was thinner, a lot thinner. She had dark circles under her eyes and her skin had lost some of the glow he was familiar with. Her hair was matted to her face instead of the way she at least attempted to keep it neat.

"Everytime I see you, that shadow thing comes up behind you and, Jace. Please don't make me explain it." She sounded pitiful and Jace resigned.

"Alright, alright. But Clary, you need sleep."

"I survive without it," she muttered under her breath.

"Barely," Jace said standing up and but leaving Clary sitting on the bed. "Please Clary," he spoke softly leaning down to kiss her cheek lightly.

"Will you sleep with me?" she asked him, sitting up.

"Sure," he said moving to climb into the bed with her. But she put her hand up to stop him.

"What?"

"You're really going to sleep like that?" He looked down at himself, jeans and a black t-shirt.

"What?"

"It can't be comfortable to sleep in jeans," she said looking up at him through her eyes lashes. He smirked down at her. He green eyes were sparkling in the way that they used to.

"What would you prefer I wear?" She bit her lip as a smirk formed at the corner of her mouth.

Wayward Lovers…Wayward Lovers…

Jace slipped out of the bed quietly, wearing only sweatpants and he tugged his shirt on quickly. He rushed down the hall into Alec's room who jumped when he barged in.

"Jace? What the hell?"

"I need you to call Magnus," he said quickly as Alec scrambled out of bed wincing at the light that Jace turned on.

"Dammit, Jace! Why?" Alec grunted coming over by Jace to turn the light back off.

"I think there's something wrong with Clary."

"Other than the fact that she's dating you?" he muttered angrily searching for his phone.

"I'm serious, Alec."

"What's wrong with her then, is she sick?" Jace sighed and quickly explained everything that Clary told him while Alec dialed Magnus's number

"Alec I swear to god, I'm up to here with the late night booty calls," Magnus's voice rang through the line and Alec clicked the phone to turn on speaker.

"Jace needs to tell you something," said Alec impatiently and Magnus got quiet. Jace quickly explained the same thing to Magnus who stayed quiet the whole time except for an occasional question.

"I'll be over in a few minutes."

"Fine," Jace muttered and headed out of the room.

"Love you," Alec said once he was sure Jace was out of the room.

Jace went back to Clary's side immediately and waited for Magnus to come in.

"What's going on?" Isabelle wandered into the room sleepily looking from Jace to Clary, who was still fast asleep, occasionally letting out a small whimper.

"Clary," he muttered.

"I got that." She sat down on the bed and looked at her carefully, "What's wrong with her?"

"We're about to find out!" Magnus roared coming into the room.

"Will you be quiet?" Jace hissed.

"You're the one who needs my help, remember?"

"Whatever, just find out."

"Ah, yes. But in order to do so I will need you three to step out." Alec and Isabelle immediately got up and went towards the door but Jace stayed by Clary's side giving her hand a protective squeeze.

"Can't I stay?"

"Sorry," said Magnus taking out a book. "Look you can stay all you want but I won't be able to find out what's wrong with your girlfriend here."

"Fine," Jace mumbled slowly stepping out of the room throwing a backwards glance at Clary.

He slumped against the wall outside the door and saw Alec and Isabelle looking at him.

"What?"

"She didn't tell you anything?" Isabelle asked.

"No, or I would've done something sooner."

Jace sighed and buried his face in his hands. He could feel Isabelle and Alec looking at him but he ignored it. His thoughts remained on Clary and what Magnus was doing in there. While busy in his thoughts the door opened and closed.

"Well I have good news and bad news," said Magnus cheerfully. Jace leaped up, chest heaving up and down in anticipation.

"The good news is I know what's wrong with Clary!" he said cheerfully.

"And the bad news?" Alec questioned.

"Ah, yes. That bad news is that she is being controlled by a demon."

**Author's Note time:**

**See! Clary's not that bad. Soo..was it as bad of a cliffhanger as last time?**

**I have to make a deal with you my pretties! I know I've been a terrible author not writing for you guys but I'm trying. And I got some ideas so that's always a plus. **

**I have 32 of you lovely people on story alert so if I get…10 reviews. Yea ten would make me cry with joy, I will post another chapter this weekend! Cool? Cool. Any questions feel free to message. **

**Don't forget to comment my lovelies. **


	7. The Plan

Jace leapt up quickly. "What do you mean she's being controlled by a demon?" He ran a hand hurriedly through his hair. There was no way that she could be controlled by a demon. She was Clary. She hadn't even been near any sort of demon.

"I don't think that's possible, Magnus," said Alec slowly with a look of confusion clear on his face.

"She hasn't even fought any demons lately," said Isabelle quickly. Her eyes flashed back and forth between Magnus and Jace. "Has she?"

"No," said Jace quietly, although everyone heard him. He turned his attention to Magnus. "This has to be a mistake."

"No mistake, I'm afraid to say."

"She's perfectly in control of her actions though," pointed out Isabelle.

"There are some demons in our world that do not attack per say to control the person themselves. Sometimes they just slowly nibble on our minds until there is nothing left but pure madness." Magnus's tone was grave and he didn't try to lighten the atmosphere at all like he usually would.

"So she's going insane?" asked Alec.

"I wouldn't say insane," interrupted Magnus, holding a hand up to Isabelle who had opened her mouth to protest.

"Then what would you call it," Jace fumed. He could feel his body growing hot. "Do you even know what kind of demon it is?"

"No, I do not."

"Then how can you even say- " Jace was cut off by Isabelle.

"Do you know how to get rid of it?"

"To do that, we would have to know what kind of demon we're dealing with," he cast a sideways glance to Jace who was opening his mouth to spew out more hatefel words. "Which I do know how we can figure that out."

Jace rolled his eyes angrily. "Will you just tell us what the hell we have to do!" Alec threw an annoyed glance in Jace's direction.

"Well first of all, it would be better if she slept as much as possible." Magnus spoke quietly looking at Alec rather than Jace.

"She has nightmares," Jace spoke louder seeing as though it appeared that Magnus was avoiding looking at him at all costs.

"And that's how the demon gets to her," said Magnus.

"So there's a demon that just gives Clary bad dreams?" muttered Alec.

"No, eventually it will destroy her completely." Magnus walked back into the room while the other three were fast on his heels.

"Why?" asked Jace.

"I just explained to you everything about the dreams and such, she'll go insane and-"

"No, I mean why is it attacking her?"

He looked at Clary who was lying stiffly on the bed. Her hair fanned out onto the pillow and clung to her face from sweat. Her fists clung onto the sheets of the bed desperately and her legs were curled up behind her.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Jace said rushing to the side of her bed.

"I didn't touch her," Magnus said quietly, "Which means this happens every night, lover boy, and you never notice it."

Alec's eyes were fixed on Clary too. "So why is it attacking her?"

"Well she is Valentine's daughter," Magnus pointed out.

"Valentine is dead, and wouldn't Jace be like this too then," said Alec, fixing his gaze on Jace.

"I won't know until we find out what it is. All I know is that it is going to start slowly taking over her mind if we don't do something."

"Okay, so what do we do?" Isabelle leaned herself up against the wall. Jace just sat on the bed taking on of Clary's hands in his and squeezing it gently.

"If you would allow me to go back to my home and bring some stuff here I can help. It'll take a while, but still." Magnus picked up the bag he brought and made his way towards the door.

"Wouldn't it make more sense if we brought her there?" muttered Jace.

"No," Magnus said sharply. "Do not move her unless this place is burning down. Understand?"

"Let's go," Alec stood up quickly taking Magnus's hand and hurrying him towards the elevator.

"What's the hurry?" asked Magnus scrambling from behind.

"Jace's going to blow up soon, and I highly suggest getting here as quickly as possible unless you want part of the aftershocks." Alec pushed the button for the elevator to come down and shooed Magnus in.

"I'll be back," Magnus muttered, a bit annoyed that Alec would want to get rid of him so quickly.

"Hurry," was all Alec said before the elevator went down.

**Authors Note:**

**Okay I know I know. It's short and I promised a chapter last weekend. Thank you to all you people that reviewed. I totally wasn't expecting it. I'm going to try to update more I promise, the past month has just been really rough and last weekend I had funeral and ugh. Im really sorry, but I'm going to try to post at least once a week with this okay?**

**Can I get reviews to see that you guys don't hate me?**


	8. Discoveries

**Merry two day late Christmas. Here is your present**

"Jace it's okay," said Isabelle quietly sitting herself on the edge of Clary's bed. Clary tossed a bit in her sleep. Jace just looked at her pitifully. He leaned up against the wall behind him and sank down slowly into a sitting position.

"No it's not," he muttered under his breath. "And you know it's not."

"Magnus said he would be able to fix her," she whispered. She rarely saw Jace at a state where he seemed completely helpless. He was just staring at Clary with a mixture of disbelief, sorrow, and something else Isabelle couldn't quite place.

"She's not some toy that's broken Isabelle," he said sharply running a hand through his hair with a sigh.

"You know what I meant," said Isabelle defensively crossing her arms over her chest. Jace looked at Isabelle and for the briefest moment his gold eyes met her dark ones and she remembered the old Jace. He was always so sarcastic and full of himself, but ever since Clary. No, Isabelle shook her head trying to get rid of the thoughts. Clary didn't do anything wrong.

"He said he would be able to find out what's wrong," Jace said, ripping his eyes off of Isabelle and gluing them back onto Clary.

"And then he'll be able to fix her," said Isabelle.

"He didn't say that," Jace pointed out.

"I think it was sort of implied," she mumbled standing up and pacing around the room a bit.

"If he doesn't even know what kind of demon it is how will he be able to do anything?" said Jace raising his voice a bit. It was at that moment that Alec walked into the room glancing between his two siblings.

"He'll be back in a bit and then we can find out what's wrong with her," said Alec leaning on the wall opposite of Jace.

"There's nothing wrong with her," said Jace, his voice getting louder as he spoke. Alec sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well she's not exactly healthy," he muttered.

"It's not her fault!" Jace stood up and Alec braced himself preparing for the yelling that he knew would probably come. Jace always had a cool air about him but lately he just blew up whenever anything happened.

"I never said it was Jace," said Alec. Isabelle sat back down on the bed next to Clary and tried to stay out of the way.

"Well that's what you made it sound like," said Jace getting a bit louder.

"I never said it was her fault Jace. She's sick and she needs help."

"And your boyfriend doesn't even know what he's doing!"

"He said he would be able to find out what was going on with her," said Alec through clenched teeth. Jace smirked knowing that his comment upset him.

"He said he didn't know what's happening with her Alec." Jace smirked and took a step towards Alec at the same time that Alec took a step towards him. Isabelle bit her lip a bit as she looked between the two.

"He said he would be able to find out what's wrong with her Jace, you heard him." Jace opened his mouth to speak again but he was cut off sharply by Isabelle.

"Shut up! Both of you!" When they both turned to look at her she sighed and said, "Look its four in the morning and you two arguing isn't going to help. So just shut up and wait for Magnus to get back, will you?"

"Yes let's wait for Magnus to get back," said Magnus himself from the door.

"You got back fast," said Alec seemingly surprised.

"Not fast enough," muttered Jace under his breath earning himself a glare from both Isabelle and Alec. Magnus ignored him and walked over to Clary glancing down at her.

"So," said Magnus cheerfully. "I need to know how she's been acting the past couple of days."

"She's been acting fine," said Isabelle immediately then with an afterthought added, "Except for the nightmares."

"She's been training a lot," added Alec.

"Too much," said Jace in almost a whisper but apparently Magnus heard him.

"What do you mean too much?"

"Well she was before, I mean. She stopped now but before she just wouldn't stop. I'm pretty sure she trained for a day straight one time."

"Training for a full day is not uncommon for shadowhunters," said Magnus looking at Alec for approval in his statement.

"It is when they are just starting out," said Jace. "The three of us weren't doing that much training until we were at it for at least a couple of years."

"Well she is starting out late; she would need to go fast?" Magnus said.

"Not that fast. She was training day and night without sleep." Jace was staring at the blank wall in front of him not having enough patience to sit and look at anyone else.

"Was she acting weird at all besides that."

"She said she hears voices and has nightmares and headaches," said Jace with a shrug.

After a pause Isabelle spoke. "She and Jace have been fighting."

"Really?" asked Magnus sounding amused.

"That has nothing to do with this," said Jace clenching his fists a bit.

"It might. How have you two been fighting."

"We're not…'fighting'," muttered Jace glancing at Clary for a bit.

"They haven't been talking at all, they yelled at each other the one night, pretty sure they haven't kissed in weeks," said Alec staring Jace down intently.

"That's not true," said Jace.

"Don't try to tell me that you've been perfectly content with each other Jace. We all know that's a lie."

"I think he means the kissing," said Isabelle smirking a bit.

"What do you mean?" asked Alec ignoring Jace completely now.

"He only started to get worked up when you mentioned the kissing," said Isabelle winking at Jace who just stared at her blankly.

"You two hooked up tonight?" said Alec sounding more amused than Isabelle. Magnus just looked at Jace waiting for him to either confirm or deny what they were saying.

"We talked," Jace muttered.

"Is that how you knew?" asked Magnus before Isabelle or Alec could come in with any more witty remarks.

"About her? Yes. She told me what was going on."

"You didn't know anything before that?" Isabelle and Alec had both gone back to serious expressions and Jace was thankful that it was over.

"I knew she was overtraining and acting weird," said Jace.

"Acting weird how?" Magnus pushed.

"Like she wasn't talking to me at all. But I thought she had a reason for that."

"What reason would that be?" Jace was starting to get annoyed. He didn't like the Magnus that always asked questions and was completely serious completely opposite of the Magnus that he knew would joke around all the time and wore sparkly pink clothes.

"I said some things when we were in Idris that I shouldn't have," Jace admitted.

"What were they?" Magnus continued asking questions.

"Does it matter?" Jace exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air.

"Yes, actually," said Manus.

"And why would it matter?" said Jace not wanting to bring it up again.

"Just answer him Jace," said a disgruntled Isabelle. Jace groaned to himself and muttered something in Latin that Isabelle was sure meant he wanted to kill some of them.

"I called her a mundane," he said after a while.

"That's it?" said Magnus.

"That's the main part," mumbled Jace.

"He called her rash and thoughtless and that she messes everything up," Isabelle spoke up. Magnus looked to Jace for approval that the statement she made was true but by the look on his face he could tell that it was.

"Anything else?" asked Magnus, almost afraid that the answer would spark more conflict. When no one spoke up he looked to Alec desperately.

"He said that she messes everything up. That she's a mundane and she'll always be one because she only thinks of herself instead of thinking of everyone." The room was deadly silent only to be disrupted by a quiet whimper from Clary that seemed to wake everyone up.

"That's all?" said Magnus hoping that there was no more to be added by it.

"What do you mean 'that's all?' You think that it's just okay?" Jace's voice was wavering but his eyes were filled with anger.

"I didn't mean it like that," Magnus amended quickly.

Before Jace could say anything else Alec spoke up quickly. "After that he told her to go home and she left. You know the rest already." Magnus nodded gravely.

"How is bringing all of this up supposed to help us exactly?" asked Jace.

"It could be how the demon is getting to her," stated Magnus matter-of-factly.

"Getting to her?" Isabelle spoke up again.

"Yes. Mind control demons like to focus on bad things that have happened in the past and bring them up to drive the person mad." Magnus took out a small gray book and fanned through it a bit.

"Well some worse things have happened to Clary, to be honest," said Alec.

"I know they have, but this is different," Magnus closed up the book to look at Alec sincerely for a moment.

"Different how?" asked Jace. Magnus seemed to take a deep breath before turning to Jace to speak.

"Clary loves you. And when someone hears words like that from someone they love it tends to leave a lasting mark. Since Clary wants nothing more than to be a shadowhunter hearing 'mundane' repeated in her head all the time isn't going to help her."

"So this is my fault," said Jace. His shoulders slumped as he spoke and Isabelle took a step towards him raising a hand as though to put it on his shoulder comfortingly, but seeming to change her mind at the last minute and putting it back to her side.

"I wouldn't say it's your fault, Jace." Everyone was looking directly at Jace and he could feel a rumbling feeling in the back of his head. He wanted to yell but he didn't. He just thought of how his words were slowly tearing Clary apart and he didn't even notice that anything was wrong with her to begin with.

"But I said it," he mumbled.

"You didn't mean it," said Isabelle.

"I know I didn't mean it Isabelle. Just a week or so ago you were accusing me of doing some terrible awful thing and now you just change your mind?" He spoke evenly and calmly completely opposite to how he felt.

"Well Clary knew you didn't mean it," said Alec.

"Clearly she didn't!" said Jace throwing his hands up in the air again before slamming them into the wall behind him. His breathing was ragged and irregular but no one spoke at all for a while and he closed his eyes tightly trying to shut out everything.

"A demon is the one that's doing this to her, not you." Magnus was the one that broke the deafening silence and Jace turned to face him.

"But it's because of something that I said," he said. "Isn't it?"

"I'm sure that it's not the only thing that's going on in her head." Magnus and Jace stared each other down as they spoke. The other two remaining quiet.

"But that's what sparked it all. None of this would be happening if it weren't for me."

"I'm sure it would've found something else to focus on. She hasn't exactly lived the best life in the world."

"That's not the point," Jace grumbled.

"There's nothing you could've done to prevent it," said Alec hoping to take over so that Magnus could get back to what he was here to do.

"I could've at least noticed that something was going on with her, and I didn't do that either." Jace locked his eyes onto Clary whose face was glowing with the moonlight glowing from the window.

"None of us noticed Jace. This isn't just you," said Isabelle.

"That's not the point Isabelle and you know it," he retorted.

"Look!" said Alec loudly to get everyone's attention and then he went back to speaking quietly as though anything louder would shatter the delicate balance in the universe. "What happened is done. And now we need to let Magnus figure out what's going on." He looked to Magnus who nodded in approval.

"Yes. If you want me to find out what's wrong with her, I will need some privacy." He took a step towards Clary and so did Jace.

"I'm not leaving her. Not again." Magnus looked at him and sighed.

"You can come in as soon as I'm done," he looked at Alec who came and put a hand on Jace's shoulder attempting to lead him from the room.

"What exactly are you planning on doing to her?" he panicked a bit.

"I'm planning on figuring out what's going on inside her head. That's hard to do with distractions such as yourself in the room. I need to concentrate," he said. Isabelle started out of the room looking at Jace pathetically wanting him to leave and get this whole thing over with.

"I'll be quiet," Jace tried to reason.

"Come on Jace," said Alec tugging on Jace's shoulder a bit. When he didn't budge he said rather annoyed. "Look if you want to stay fine. Watch he slowly be tortured into madness. But if you want her to get better I suggest you come with us and let's go."

Jace finally followed Alec out the door glancing back before the door was closed by Isabelle who was waiting out in the hall for them.

"We should go get something to eat," she suggested. Alec nodded but Jace shook his head and sat down right next to the door. Alec looked to Isabelle and they seemed to have a conversation without words, for Isabelle nodded and walked away and Alec seemed content with her doing so. He looked at Jace for a moment and then slid down the wall slowly to sit exactly in front of Jace, only a foot between them in the hallway.

"You okay?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"No I'm not okay. Were you not just in the room?"

"Besides that," he sighed waving a hand dismissively in the air.

"What do you mean?" He glanced up at Alec and looked at him. He had small dark circles under his eyes but other than that he was the same Alec that had always been there.

"You've been acting…different," he said putting emphasis on the last word.

"Different how?" Jace inquired.

"I don't know. You just seem different." When just merely stared at him he shrugged and said, "Not the same sarcastic smart mouthed jackass I know?" A smirk teased the corner of Jace's mouth and he shook his head.

"Clary's in the other room being controlled by a demon and you're worried about my sarcastic remarks?"

"I guess," he mused with a shrug. When Jace stayed silent he pushed on. "Are you?"

"I'm fine Alec," he said.

"You sure?" he asked. Isabelle reappeared in the hallway holding a plate of what looked like microwave waffles stacked on a plate with some forks in hand. She set it on the ground between them and and handed them each a fork. Alec started picking at a waffle while Jace simply picked one up with his hand and took a bit out of it.

"Positive," he mumbled.

The three of them ate in silence and once all the waffles were gone there was a stiff atmosphere about them. No one spoke and no movement was made besides the occasional stretch or yawn. Eventually Jace felt his eyelids begin to grow heavy. This wasn't uncommon as he was used to physical exertion. But this was different. He felt them slowly close and even as he tried to keep them open, they just wouldn't stay that way.

Alec nodded at Isabelle who was looking at him for clarification if Jace fell asleep.

'He okay?' he mouthed to him. He shrugged a bit and she nodded as they fell back into silence. Just a few short minutes later the door opened quietly and Alec jolted up, expecting Jace to do the same. But Jace continued to sleep on the floor completely unaware.

Magnus noticed and waved them in shutting the door behind him.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?"

"Is she okay?" Magnus waved at them to get them to be quiet knowing that more questions would come if they were not quieted quickly.

"Yes I know." When they both looked at him with anticipation he started to speak. "She isn't being controlled as I thought, but there is a demon that is messing around in her head. That's what is going on with her."

"Do you know what kind of demon it is?" asked Isabelle quickly.

"I don't know specifically but there is a branch of demons that specialize in this kind of thing. They are known as _amino exitium_," he walked around the room a bit as though he was nervous for something.

"Mind destroying?" said Alec.

"Exactly. They are very rare creatures. Creatures that I have never encountered ever but I have heard of them a few times. People have been known to be killed by them when they are attacked for a long enough time. They feed off of the worst memories that a person has and it brings them up like I said before. Eventually it consumes them until they have no will to live at all. They try so hard to accomplish the impossible goal of getting all the bad things in their lives changed around. And when they don't succeed it drives them mad until they have nothing left but the wish to die. And that's when it attacks," said Magnus in a very slow contemptuous. The other two were looking at him with mouths gaping open.

"It attacks you?" asked Isabelle finally.

"Yes. These demons are not particularly strong or powerful so if you are strong enough not to go and kill yourself it will find you and attack," he explained carefully.

"So it's close enough to know where she is?" asked Alec.

"Not necessarily. If you are in someone's mind you can tend to find a lot about them without needing to be near them in any way." Alec and Isabelle exchanged glances.

"Is there anything we can do?" asked Alec quickly sounding panicked.

"Not much. You see, these demons don't act on their own. There has to be someone telling it what to do that has the trust or the power that they are not being controlled themselves."

"So who would be able to do that? The demon would just attack them wouldn't it?" Isabelle crossed her arms over her chest suddenly becoming very scared. If the demon was able to attack Clary couldn't it attack anyone?

"Usually only greater demons or warlocks can persuade them to do their bidding, so I'm assuming that it is someone like that."

"So a demon is telling another demon to control her?" asked Alec trying to figure out exactly what was going on.

"That's the thing. I don't think it's just attacking Clary." Both Isabelle and Alec started to panic as they exchanged worried glances none of them daring to speak. "Has Jace been acting different? He seems like it."

"A bit. Is it attacking him too?" asked Isabelle quickly.

"It might be. He just doesn't seem as, what is the phrase I'm looking for, in control as he normally seems," said Magnus with a shrug.

"He does seem a bit off," agreed Alec.

"There's no way that he'll let us do anything though," said Isabelle looking at Magnus. "Do you know anything else at all."

"The only way to stop this is to kill the demon itself or find out who's doing this and kill them. I have no idea who it could be and unless they slip up there is no way we can get even a clue about who it may be," he spoke sadly and looked down towards the ground.

"Well we can't just sit and watch them die Maguns!" exclaimed Isabelle and then looking towards Clary who was still lying on the bed in case she had woken up. Magnus followed her eyes to see what she was looking at.

"She won't be waking up soon," he said quietly.

"What did you do to her?" Isabelle asked quietly.

"I didn't do anything that wasn't directly for her benefit," he said forcefully.

"Look this is all very touching, but how are we supposed to get this thing out of Clary and possibly Jace's head? You said they might slip up?" Alec sounded frustrated.

"Sometimes the demon may slip up and put the person who is controlling them into the person's dreams or thoughts. But if the thoughts are of multiple people it can be very hard to figure out whom it is especially if they aren't in the dream at all."

"So basically we're screwed?" said Alec.

"Not necessarily?"

"Care to elaborate?" said Isabelle.

"It means both Clary and Jace are very strong people. It is unlikely it will be able to destroy them completely. To slow down the process you would need to make sure that they are constantly in a happy environment. Find out the best moments of the childhood maybe? Take them to Idris for all I care. But figure out what happens in their dreams. That's the part where the mind thinks the most freely and is capable of much more. You might be able to figure out events where whoever this is saw them or why they're doing it or where they are." Magnus waited a while to let it all sink in.

"Who would want to attack them?" said Isabelle. "Valentine's dead."

"The both of them are Valentine's children. They are capable of many great things. With them out of the way or in their control they could do many things. Valentine had many powerful followers that would be willing to do his bidding even if he himself were dead." Magnus wouldn't look at either of them when he spoke anymore.

"So we just have to find out who this is?" Alec said. Magnus nodded.

"Listen," Magnus said quickly. "This process takes a long, long time. Sometimes it takes years. They're not insane and they won't be for a long time. Don't treat them that way. Filling them with happiness will be able to slow down the process a lot. Some say it would take a thousand years for the happiest man in the world to be turned by demons like these."

"But they're suffering now," said Isabelle.

"I know they are. I can help you to find some of Valentine's followers."

"Well you just said that we might be able to get the information from them," said Isabelle.

"I did say that. But to be honest, I wouldn't tell Jace what's going on. I'm completely fine that he's asleep in the hallways. I wouldn't speak to Clary about it either. It will just cause more worry and stress that the demon will be able to feed off of. Like I said if you find out whom it could be the trouble is just finding where they are."

"How are we supposed to figure that out?" asked Alec.

"Sometimes the dreams they have can give you a hint of where they are. Like if it takes place on a boat, they might be on a boat and so on," he tilted a head to the side.

"We should go to Idris soon, then," said Alec and Isabelle nodded agreeing.

"Why are we going to Idris?" said a somewhat sleepy voice from the doorway.

"To help Clary," said Isabelle but Magnus seemed to wake up from his quiet peaceful manner as he looked Jace up and down. Before Jace even had the opportunity to say anything Magnus was on his feet.

"Jace, is there anyone in particular that Clary said was in her dreams."

"What? Why? Is she okay?" Jace seemed confused as he shook his head.

"Just answer the question, Jace," said Alec forcefully which seemed to take Jace by surprise.

"Valentine?" he looked between the three of them confused but also with an almost scared look on his face in case he was in here to receive bad news.

"Anyone else?" Magnus urged.

"Um…Sebastian? Is he doing this?" He started to get an excited but panicky look in his eyes.

"He might be," said Magnus.

"He's part demon," Alec pointed out.

"I know he is. He would be after Clary." Magnus rushed a hand through his hair.

"Just to kill her? I though he liked her?" said Isabelle.

"Maybe not to kill, but once someone is desperate enough for happiness they will do almost anything," said Magnus gravely.

"What do you mean?" Jace seemed suddenly awake and alert.

"I mean Clary might do whatever he wants if she were desperate enough," said Magnus finally.

"Desperate for what?" said Jace.

"Relief from the pain? Happiness?" Magnus turned to Alec. "He can't know too much."

"You better not be talking about me," said Jace.

"Jace please," Isabelle whispered.

"No! If something is wrong with Clary you are going to damn well tell me what it is!" he shouted.

"She will be safer if you don't know Jace," said Alec quietly staring Jace down.

"So what now? I'm supposed to sit here and watch her suffer?" asked Jace, his eyes desperately searching their faces for some sort of answer.

"Actually you can help," said Magnus.

"He can?" asked Isabelle.

"He can," nodded Magnus. "We need Clary as happy as possible all the time and it seems to me that she is happiest around you."

"That's it? You won't even tell me what's wrong?"

"Jace, it's really a lot better if you don't know," said Alec.

"How?" he said incredulously.

"It's better for her safety." Magnus sighed and looked towards Alec again. "I can make a portal for you tomorrow if you plan on going to Idris."

"That would be amazing," said Alec throwing a smile towards Magnus who winked at him.

"So we're just getting up and leaving?" asked Jace.

"Until we can find out where it is Sebastian is, yes." Isabelle spoke quietly as she had been all night. "I'll go start packing. How long do you think we'll have to stay?"

"Pack for a week," Alec said. "When we need more we'll come back."

"Well," said Magnus. "It's five in the morning. How about tomorrow at noon? That gives you a whole day to rest up."

"Sure," said Alec with a sigh.

"I'll be on my way then," said Magnus catching a glance from Jace that was both pleading and hateful.

"I'll walk you out," said Alec hurrying behind Magnus. The two of them walked down the hall before stopping in front of the elevator.

"You're really going to be gone a while aren't you," said Magnus not bothering to hide the sadness in his voice.

"I'll come visit you," Alec promised.

"Once a week isn't the same as every day and you know that," he mumbled glancing towards the elevator clearly not wanting to leave.

"I know, and I'm sorry." When Magnus didn't respond Alec reached for him and gave him a quick kiss before he went in the elevator grudgingly.

"I still expect you to call me," he said before the doors closed.

"Every day," Alec promised as the elevator went down.

When Alec found his way back to Clary's room he found Jace sitting on the edge of her bed stroking her hair gently. He leaned against the door frame.

"This isn't your fault Jace," he said firmly, hoping that if he repeated it enough that Jace would believe him.

"You and I both know that this is partially my fault as much as we both don't want to admit it. Don't try to cover it up and make me sound innocent," he said slowly.

"I'm not saying what you said was right," said Alec. "You shouldn't have said it. It was stupid and wrong and irrational. But you didn't mean it. We all know you didn't. You love Clary too much to throw it away and I know you do. Clary does too. This thing is only going on because the demon altered it that way to make it seem like you're the bad guy."

"You mean Sebastian."

"It might be him," he said. "We don't know that yet."

"I think we can both agree that this is probably his doing."

"I guess. But that doesn't make it your fault." Jace turned to face Alec fully and met his brother's eyes as he spoke.

"I had the chance to kill him and I didn't. I could've and none of this would've happened. I also said the things that sparked this whole issue. I'm also the one that didn't notice what was going on. Let's face it Alec. I fucked up."

"You may have. But now you have a chance to fix it. Sebastian's a strong fighter. That's like saying the war is my fault because I couldn't kill Valentine."

"By sitting and watching? We know those are different."

"You can help Clary. Even if we didn't tell you everything, you can still help her. And you know how," he pointed out.

"By making her happy?" he questioned.

"Yes. And I know somehow you'll eventually get the information you want so bad but until then just suck it up for her." Jace looked at his brother for one final moment before nodding and finally breaking the eye contact that held them together. Alec took that as a victory and left the room at that knowing that Jace would be spending the night at Clary's side.

Jace slid onto the side of the bed and lay down next to her. He watched her chest move up and down slowly as she slept the night away.

"Jace," she breathed out. He stroked her face gently hoping that she would know that he was there. He wrapped his arms around her and finally gave into the sleep that threatened to take over.

**Author's Note Time.**

**Aha! Merry Christmas and I hope that that satisfies your wanting for another chapter. Pretty long one actually. Geeze. I must like you guys or something. Tell me what you think. Tell me in very much detail. I'm gunna be updating most of my stories tomorrow or at least I'm going to try to. So for those of you, who read those, be ready. **

**Okie dokie then. Where was I? Oh yeah. So please tell me what you think cause I worked pretty hard on this one. You can review as my Christmas present. Sorry for those who don't celebrate but I do so I will say merry Christmas as I please. Anywho, seriously. Just leave a sentence or two saying what you think. I really like super long reviews but I don't expect them so... Merry Christmas again and goodnight. Happy reading**

**Love you guys**


	9. Portal Mishaps

Clary blinked her eyes at the light streaming in from her windows. It took her a moment to recognize her surroundings fully. She glanced around the room and everything seemed to be in place. After sitting up against the headboard she noticed that her head felt much heavier than before; she closed her eyes and let the dizzy feeling pass. Her muscles felt tight and weak when she stretched them over her head like someone had been pulling at them all night. It was then when she noticed that something was missing; Jace. She fell asleep in his arms and now he was gone, at least she thought he was.

Clary found Jace laying at the end of her bed, his feet were still firmly planted on the ground as though he was sitting and then fell asleep.

"Jace," she whispered seeing if he was up.

"Hmm," he grunted. He didn't open his eyes at all but he stretched his legs out a bit

"You're up?" she asked. Clary slipped out of the covers and crawled over to where he was sitting on the bed.

"I've been up all night," he mumbled sleepily.

"Why?" she asked. He opened his eyes and smiled at her. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he was hiding something but the look on his face told her that he was completely calm.

"Nevermind why," he said pulling up his legs onto the bed and he turned to face her. "But we are leaving for Idris tomorrow morning."

"Idris?" she said tilting her head to the right a bit. Some hair fell in front of her face and Jace pushed it back behind her ear.

"Apparently our parents think we need a vacation," he said with a shrug.

"Will they be meeting us there?" she asked. Clary glanced at the clock sitting on the dresser next to her bed 3:24 p.m. Had she really slept that long? Did Jace really stay with her this whole time? She looked back at Jace who gave her a weak smile.

"No. You, me, Alec, and Isabelle will be the only ones there. But we're going to be staying in one of their old friends house. Apparently they moved out a long time ago but decided not to come back," he explained with a bit of a shrug.

"Have I really been asleep that long?" she asked ignoring the questions that she had about Idris the next day.

"You haven't been sleeping in weeks. I think it's about time that you caught up on sleep," he said raising an eyebrow at her.

"Were you here the whole time?" she whispered barely loud enough for Jace to hear. The room had an eerie stillness about it like even the slightest shift in atmosphere might shatter everything. He nodded stiffly after a pregnant pause.

"I've been here the whole time," he mumbled. She looked up into the familiar golden eyes of Jace. They looked tired and worried but she couldn't quite place what was bothering him. It was probably their fighting, if you wanted to call it fighting. They had barely spoken in weeks and she wasn't sure whether last night made everything better or worse. If Jace had really stayed with her all night maybe that meant that everything was okay between them. But how could he forget something like that. He was searching her eyes for what she was thinking and she bit her lip worried that he might be able to figure it out.

"Jace," she whispered. He put a finger on her lips as though he could read her thought and shook his head silencing all further questions on the subject. She sighed but by the look on his face she could tell that he didn't want to talk about it either.

"Why don't we go see if there's something to eat?" he suggested standing up stretching quickly and reaching out his hand for Clary to take. She hesistated for a moment but took the outstretched hand. Jace led her down the multiple hallways to the kitchen without a single word. When they entered the kitchen, Alec and Isabelle had their heads together as though they were deep in conversation. Isabelle looked up and smiled at Clary but Alec looked at Jace who just nodded. Clary opened her mouth to ask what they were talking about before they came in but Isabelle immediately cut her off before she was able to ask anything.

"Did you sleep okay?" she asked a bit too cheerful to be like a normal Isabelle. Alec crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter looking between Jace and Clary with an intense look on his face.

"I slept fine," Clary said slowly, looking at Alec trying to figure out what was making Alec so distraught.

"Did Jace tell you?" asked Isabelle.

"About Idris?" questioned Clary. Alec's stormy eyes met with her bright green ones. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine, just tired," he said immediately. There was a slight shift in atmosphere and Alec seemed to be all of sudden a lot more happy than he was before. "So Jace told you about Idris then? We need to pack. Magnus will be here tomorrow around noon."

"Okay," Clary said hesitantly.

"We're thinking a week but it might be a bit longer depending on how we like it there," Alec explained. Isabelle nodded her head eagerly and Clary just looked toward Jace who shrugged at her.

"What about my mom? Luke?" she asked.

"I called them," said Isabelle. "I explained that since we were gone that it would be better to keep your training going on there especially since most shadowhunters live a bunch of their life in that city."

"Some vacation," she mumbled. Due to her overtraining Clary had actually grown to hate the idea of any more training any time soon. Her muscles were still weak and she was tired from it.

Isabelle pulled out a box of some Chinese takeout and handed it to Clary and Jace. The four of them ate in mostly silence, an awkward atmosphere seemed to take over them. They made quiet conversation about random things that none of them remembered five minutes later. Isabelle excused herself first and Alec said that he need to call Magnus for something. Jace said he needed to go pack.

Clary walked back to her own room with questions still buzzing through her head. Something seemed to be off by the way that everyone was acting but she couldn't tell what it was. The only thing that happened in the past twelve hours was Jace and her appeared to have made up. She shrugged to herself and pulled out the suitcase from under her bed. There was still a few random items of clothing from the last trip that she had taken with Jace. She dumped the contents onto her bed and began to rummage through her drawers and placing clothes for the week into her suitcase. She just placed some drawing pencils and her drawing pad into her suitcase when her phone began to ring.

"Hello?" she said not bothering to check the caller I.D. to see who it was.

"Hi!" said the cheerful voice of Simon on the other end. She smiled and flopped onto the bed to talk to him.

"Hey Simon."

"What's going on? Jace said that you guys were leaving?"

"Yea. We're going to Idris for a while."

"Hate that city," he mumbled. Clary couldn't help but to laugh. Simon had had a rough time the last time that he was in Idris but to be fair he spent most of it in prison.

"Well we're going for a week probably a bit longer."

"I guess that means you can't come over this weekend then," he gave a quiet sigh.

"Sorry."

"Anyways, how're you doing? Isabelle said that you and Jace got into a fight."

"We're doing fine," she mumbled.

"You sure?" he asked. Clary heard a snapping sound from outside the window. She turned to see what it was but she just saw the dark shadows of the night outside her window.

"I'm sure. Hey. I have to go pack. I'll find a way to talk to you later, alright?" she sighed and looked at her half empty suitcase.

"Okay. Just take care of yourself, Fray," he said in an almost warning tone.

"Yes, sir," she said playfully before hanging up.

Clary spent the rest of the night packing up everything that she needed for the trip. Even though she had spent the whole entire night and day sleeping she found herself exhausted after only a couple of hours and she fell asleep soundly.

Wayward Lovers…Wayward Lovers

"You got everything you need?" Jace repeated for the seventeenth time as they headed over to Magnus's place for him to make a portal for them.

"I told you I have everything," she repeated patting her pocket to check that she still had her phone.

"Well if you forget anything we can't exactly come back for it," he said. The four of them pulled up to Magnus's house and as decided on yesterday met behind the building and waited for him. Most mundanes would probably think it weird that four kids were sitting in an alleyway with suitcases but they figured that it wouldn't be worth the time or effort to put on any glamour.

"We got everything right?" said Alec.

"We have everything, okay?" said an annoyed Isabelle. "Where's Magnus?" she asked. It was 12:05 and he still wasn't here. Clary ignored the bickering siblings and watched the people walking along the busy street. One man in particular was wearing a dark coat and held a newspaper. By the sunglasses on his face she couldn't tell if he was looking at them or reading the newspaper.

"He said he would be here in a minute," muttered Alec.

"It's been more than a minute, said Jace.

The man that Clary was watching put down the newspaper and Clary knew for sure that he was looking at them. She nudged Jace lightly who looked at her and then followed her gaze to the man. The two of them stared at each other for no more than a second before Clary heard Isabelle scream. Two large clawed demons had erupted from nowhere and started at them. The whole street seemed to go dark as a deep mist erupted from the demons.

Clary's head immediately felt heavy and she felt dizzy. Jace yelled something and tugged at Clary's arm. Magnus appeared and pushed towards a portal that he created towards the end of the alleyway. One of the black demons gave a loud roar that shook the street and made it rumble causing all four of them to fall to the ground.

"Jace!" Isabelle screamed. "Clary!" One of the demons turned on Clary and charged towards her. She yelled and leaped to the side right before the demon smashed into the brick wall of the alleyway. Clary saw the dark hooded man again only this time he was holding a glowing seraph blade. He glanced at Clary for a moment before charging into the dark mist.

Clary got a better look at the demon. It was a pure black that glowed even in the dark environment. Its four legs were outstretched but it stood on its hind ones which were longer than its front ones. It had spikes coming out from its back with a strange glow coming from the ends of them. Clary assumed that it was some sort of poison. It had large nostrils and red glowing eyes with no pupils. It looked at Clary again and began running at her. She ran to the side again but one of the spikes gushed into her leg. She shrieked and Isabelle appeared behind her. Isabelle looked just as confused as she was and she started dragging her towards the end of the alley way.

Clary ignored the immediate pain in her leg and looked around frantically for Jace. Alec appeared beside Isabelle and shouted something that Clary couldn't make out. Alec picked up Clary and began running. Clary looked back in time to see Jace stabbed directly in the stomach. A black liquid began to spill of his body as he fell back to the ground.

The last thing that Clary saw before being pulled into the portal was the dark man. He had a seraph blade out and raised high above his head. He was rushing towards Jace just who was simply lying on the ground the black liquid oozing out of the huge gash in his stomach.

**Author's Note:**

**Okay…so I haven't been getting many reviews. Well I have but just not on the last chapter so I think I might've lost a bunch of your interest. Sigh. I've been on the rocks with this story about whether or not to continue it so I'll leave it up to you in the reviews. I know I haven't updated in a while but exams are done and I'm free so I'll try to update more often. And this chapter may seem like a shocker for some so maybe I might've gained back a little interest. **

**Soo…talk to me please. I'll see if I'll continue or not. Love you guys.**


	10. Questions

The three of them collapsed onto the ground with a thud. Clary heard Isabelle grunt out and Alec mutter a curse under his breath. Clary stood up quickly ignoring the dizziness that swept over her and the jolt of pain that she felt in her leg. She was breathing quickly and she ran a hand through her hair hurriedly. She looked around trying to think of where they were. It looked like the outskirts of Idris from what she could recollect from when she came here a while ago with Luke, but that had been an accident and she had Luke to guide her. The sun was high in the sky and Isabelle and Alec were starting to stand up slowly.

"Jace," she breathed out. That was the only thing on her mind at the moment. She didn't know where he was at all or if he was okay or if he was hurt. All she knew is that she wanted to find out and she wanted answers now.

Alec stood up. His eyes were dark and clouded as he ran a hand through his tussled hair. Isabelle was looking frantically back and forth as though she had lost something and needed to find it. Clary's heard was racing so fast she thought that if it was to go any faster that her chest might've burst.

"Jace," she cried out again. She could hear the panic in her on voice as it wavered. Alec and Isabelle just looked up at her with pure confusion in their eyes. "Jace," she repeated feeling the tears threatening to spill over. "Where is he?" she yelled.

"I..," Alec stammered. His hand shook as he raised it as though he were going to reach up and touch her shoulder but he lowered it immediately.

"Where is he!" she cried out again with her fist clenched in tight fists.

"I don't know," Alec said in a whisper that was barely audible. He was shaking his head trying to think of something to do or say. Isabelle just opened and closed her mouth trying to put together the words to say to her, anything. None of them knew what happened or what they needed to do.

"We need to go back," Clary stammered after an awkward pause in conversation. Isabelle's head shot up quickly.

"No," she said quickly. "We can't go back."

"You just want to leave Jace there. He's dying! He needs help!" Clary could barely put the words together and it seemed unreal as she said them. Jace and death were never put in the same sentence, period.

"We can't go back there, Clary. The demons," Isabelle stammered. For once Izzy seemed almost scared. She was always so sophisticated and focused and always on top of things but now she just seemed confused and dazed. She looked to Alec for help but he looked just as confused as Izzy.

"Alec," she pleaded. "We need to go back!"

"We can't go back," he mumbled. "The portals closed." He looked around the same place that remained unchanged since the moment they got there.

"Magnus is still on the other side," she tried to reason with him. He just shook his head.

"He closed it once we went through so that no one would be able to follow us," he explained. His voice covered most of the uneasiness he was feeling but Clary could still hear it in his voice. He was scared. A sudden rage boiled within Clary. Her vision went blurry and she just wanted to run until she collapsed on the ground with fatigue.

"So you just left him there!" she screamed. "You closed the portal when you knew we didn't have him!"

"Clary," Isabelle hissed. She spoke in an almost disgusted tone but Clary knew she didn't mean it; she was just as confused as the rest of them. It was Alec that looked hurt, but she didn't care.

"I didn't know," he whispered.

"How do you not know if he's there! It's Jace!" She knew it was a bit harsh but she meant it. How could you forget someone like Jace who was always so obvious and stood out in the crowd?

"I just didn't know what was going on, okay?" he yelled back. He looked just as confused and angry as she did.

"So what are we supposed to do now, huh?" she yelled back even louder. He clenched his fists into a tight ball so that is knuckles were white.

"I don't know," he said through his teeth.

"But you knew well enough to tell Magnus to close off the portal," she kept her voice loud despite the fact that his got quiet. If anyone was within a mile she was sure that they would've heard them with it being such an open space. Alec opened his mouth to say something back but Isabelle cut him off.

"Look," she said quickly. "None of us know what happened and we can't get back now," she breathed out looking between the two of them.

"I can use a stele to make a portal," said Clary quickly. Alec was just shaking his head at her. "We can't just leave them there! He's dying!"

"Look, Clary. We can't go back now, we're in Idris and we don't even have a stele to use. I dropped mine. We'll get to the city as quickly as possible and go from there," said Alec carefully speaking as though the slightest shift in atmosphere might make her snap.

"He's dying," Clary choked back a sob as she spoke.

"Clary he's a wonderful shadow hunter, I'm sure he's fine," said Isabelle though Clary could tell by her voice that she didn't really believe what she was saying either.

"Didn't you see him," she cried. Flashes of Jace's body going limp on the ground flashed in her mind. All she was thinking of was his body lying there and the man with the coat running towards him. She tried to remember what he looked like, how tall he was, what the color of his hair was, anything about him so that she would be able to find him easier. She couldn't remember even the slightest details about him except for his dark coat and dark hat and how quickly he had gotten from one side of the street to another.

"See who?" asked Alec.

"The man, with the coat," she explained desperately.

"Magnus?" asked Isabelle. Her and Alec exchanged confused glances as Clary tried to put together the words to explain.

"No, there was a man across the street from us. He was wearing a dark coat and he had a hat and sunglasses and he came by us once the demons came out. He had a seraph blade in his hand. You have to have seen him! He was running over to Jace when we went through," she said quickly all in one breath. The two of them were just staring at her.

"There was no one else there, Clary," said Isabelle. Her mouth was parted as she tried to comprehend what Clary was trying to explain.

"Yes there was," she cried. "And Jace is hurt! We need to go back!"

"Clary, we can't go back!" said Alec firmly. "The portal is closed there is nothing we can do. Magnus is there, he'll make sure that he's okay, I promise." Alec himself wasn't even sure what Clary was trying to explain but either way Magnus was there and he would take care of everything. Even as he tried to tell himself that everything would be okay he couldn't even convince himself of it. If what she was saying was true there was no way that they could be sure Jace was okay.

"How can you say that? You don't know what's going to happen," Clary retorted.

"We can contact Magnus when we get back to Idris. We can tell everyone what happened and we can find out what happened. The only way we can help now is to stop arguing and start walking, said Isabelle. Both Alec and Clary looked at her open mouthed. Isabelle may have been bossy at times but she wasn't one to take charge in this extreme of cases. Alec nodded smiling a little bit at his little sister. A small twinkle of pride could be seen in his eyes.

"But, Jace," Clary breathed out. She knew it might've been considered selfish but she didn't know anything else to think about. In her mind, Jace was dying and she would do anything to make sure that he wasn't. Neither Alec nor Isabelle seemed to have heard her as they made no inclination of having heard her. They just picked themselves up and looked at Clary's leg which Clary seemed to notice for the first time that it was still bleeding. She hadn't even known that it was in pain until her mind had wandered from Jace even in the slightest.

When she looked down at it, it looked like a deep cut and she was surprised that she hadn't even felt it until now. She winced as she tried to take a step. The second her foot came in contact with the ground and put pressure on it, a jolt of pain shot up her leg and she fell down onto the ground. Alec was immediately next to her, putting her arm around his shoulders and Isabelle was close behind doing the same with her other arm. She wanted to tell them that she was fine and that she didn't need help to walk but given the condition of her leg even she had to admit that she would just slow them down if she were to walk on her own, if she were able to walk that is.

She clung onto the shoulders of Alec and Isabelle as they slowly started down the path that the two of them at least knew to be the direction of the city. Clary just closed her eyes and tried to focus on putting one foot in front of the other without putting too much weight on the other's shoulders. Images of Jace continued to flash through her mind quickly. There were those of him just smiling or fighting and then the image of him being stabbed by the demon. She tried to remember what it might've been. After racking her brain for a while trying to remember the multiple demon lessons she had received at the institute she couldn't even think of one time where a demon even close to the ones of the descriptions that she had seen or read about she came up empty. And Magnus. She had no idea where he was or what happened with him or if he had gotten Jace. And who was the man in the dark coat. The questions continued to rack her brain and kept her mind off of the pain in her leg.

"We should rest for a minute," grunted Isabelle. Clary finally opened her opened her eyes and looked at Isabelle. She looked exhausted but being the shadowhunter that she was it was hard to tire her out. Alec looked equally as exhausted. Then again, none of them had really gotten any sleep last night and by the looks of the sky it was starting to get late in the evening. They sat down on the grass exchanging minimal glances.

"Do you know where we are?" Clary broke the silence quietly. Alec looked up at her, eyes blazing with fear and anxiety and something else she couldn't quite place.

"Yes," he said nodding his head to the right. "You can see the outskirts of the city." Clary turned to find that if she did squint in the dim light that she could see the city.

"Why were we so far away from the city? I thought it was supposed to take us right into it," said Isabelle eyeing her brother carefully.

"I don't know what went on, okay. But the longer we sit here, the longer we will have to stay outside when it gets cold at night," said Alec. Isabelle sighed and rubbed her shoulder. Clary bit her lip and looked down knowing she was the cause for the extra exhaustion.

"I could walk on my own," she said quietly although she could hear the own insecurity in her voice.

"No," the pair of them said immediately. She looked up at them as they stared back at her.

"You're not walking on your own, don't be stupid," said Isabelle.

"But we would get there faster," Clary protested.

"We will get there faster if we don't sit here and talk to each other all night. There's time for that in a house in the city, not out in the middle of nowhere," Alec muttered standing up. Isabelle, following his example stood up and reached down to grab Clary's hand. After she took it she was pulled to her feet and put around the shoulders of her two companions.

Wayward Lovers…Wayward Lovers

Jace didn't bother to open his eyes. It was that weird stage when you were up but not really up. That is to say he was completely aware of everything around him but he was too tired to actually get up. He was on some sort of really thin matress and there was a thin blanket over him. He was unusually hot and sweating a bit but he could feel a damp cloth on top of his head and questioned how it got there. He opened one eye in the slightest bit to try to see his surroundings. It was a dimly lit room with brick walls only lit by the window on the wall opposite the bed. He opened his eyes fully and looked around. He felt sick and had an almost empty feeling but he wasn't quite sure why. He didn't even know where he was or why he was here or even when he got here. He couldn't remember much of anything to be honest.

He grunted as he sat up and felt the sudden need to throw up. His whole body ached with pain and his abdomen felt like it was being torn open. He bit his lip and sat up all the way as quietly as he could. He lifted the large t-shirt that he had on and found a ton of blood soaked bandages all wrapped around his body. They were wrapped so tightly around himself that he couldn't even pull them up to see the damage underneath. He started to feel lightheaded so he closed his eyes and allowed the feeling to wash over him.

He heard a creak as the door was pushed open. He tensed and gripped the mattress tightly knowing that there was nothing much that he could do given his condition. A man walked slowly into the room with a confident stride that made him feel almost comfortable with him being there. Jace opened his mouth to speak but was immediately cut off.

"You're up I see," he said. His voice was smooth like silk and made him think of an old English gentleman.

"Yes," Jace grunted. He finally got a good look at the man. He had dark brown hair and a pair of dark brown eyes to match. He was tall and muscularly built but the question was how he got here in the first place, why he was here, and who this man was.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked in an almost fatherly tone. It made him feel comfortable despite his suspicion.

"I'm fine," he responded stiffly. The man nodded and leaned against the wall opposite him.

"Are you in pain?" he questioned tilting his head slightly to the side. It was almost as though he was looking right through him and was able to read his thoughts like an open book.

"No," he said and before giving him another chance to ask another pointless question he asked, "Who are you?" The man smiled as though he were proud of him asking such a wonderful question.

"There is no need for you to know who I am, not now anyways. You may call me Christopher for now if you so desire. The only thing that you need to know right now is that I am here to help you and that it would be in your best interest to comply with what I say if you wish to return to your family as fast as you can," he said smoothly. Jace's mouth hung open.

"You can't just keep me here without telling me a thing about who you are," he protested.

"I'm telling you now that you need to trust me. It is the best interest for you and Clarissa," he said simply giving a small shrug.

"What have you done with Clary," he said firmly sitting up straighter.

"I haven't done anything to her. She made it through the portal safely with the young Alexander and Isabelle," he said raising his hands up in surrender.

"Then why do you insist on keeping me here?" Jace asked. He moved to stand up but the man was immediately next to him pushing him back onto the bed.

"You've lost enough blood as is and I highly suggest you don't continue to waste your energy on futile attempts to endanger yourself," he said almost fiercely. Memories of the demon encounter began to flood his memory as he recalled his memories of Clary and the man with the dark coat.

"What do you want with me?" he panted. He was tired and hot and wanted nothing more to do than sleep but he wanted answers more than rest.

"What I want is for you to get better so you can be returned to your friends in Idris. And that will not be done with you constantly showing your mistrust for me, will it?" he said. Apparently he was convinced that there would be no more attempts to get up as he backed up away from him and leaned back up against the wall.

"Tell me who you are then," he protested.

"There will be time for that later. I do not wish to impose any stress on you at the moment. When you get better I will be happy to explain to you who I am where I come from and any other questions you may still have for me," he said with a smile.

"And I'm not resting until you tell me what's going on," he said with annoyance.

"There really is no need to mistrust me. Clarissa, or as you call her Clary, is safe in Idris with the other two of the Lightwood children. I'm sure they will tell the Clave of today's events including the demon attacks. I'm sure they are thinking about you a great deal and want to be in contact with you as soon as possible which requires you to be in full health. Which means, Jonathan, that it would be wise to trust me as it is only in my best interest to get you back to health and return you to them," he explained.

"Why?" was all that Jace could stammer out.

"Why what, my boy?" he said with a strange twinkle in his eyes.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me?" he said shaking his head trying to take in everything that just happened.

"I told you that I will explain to you everything you want to know when you have reached your full health again and considering your condition it may be wise to go back to sleep. The demon venom will only be quickened by an increased heart rate," he drawled out.

"You can't just keep me here," he said.

"You are correct. But I think it would be difficult to get to where you are trying to go without my help. And I refuse to take you until you are well," he stated with a note of finality.

"What are you?" Jace asked suddenly. The man turned around.

"I am a Nephilim, same as you," he said with that same smile that made his stomach twist. Jace opened his mouth to ask another question but the man, Christopher, turned without so much as another word and headed for the door. He reached for the door handle to pull it closed. At the last second he turned and said in a quiet voice that almost sounded sad to him.

"Do get some rest, won't you." And with that statement he closed the door shut.

"Wonderful," muttered Jace under his breath as he spent the rest of the night wandering in and out of nightmare filled slumber.

**Author's Note Time:**

**I'm sorry it seems I have been ignoring you, it is become increasingly difficult for me to sit down and write a halfway decent story. As I was writing this I was rereading all my other stories and I'm not really sure why you guys like them so much. They're nothing special. But to satisfy your needs I forced myself to write up this chapter. I hope it's okay. I don't know if my writing is up to par lately. **

**Although I will tell you the main reason this chapter was written was due to a certain reviewer by the name of Alyssa who has been kind enough to comment on most of my stories. I realize I haven't been updating that much and I am sorry but I have writer's block. I'm serious. It's like an incurable disease. So this is for her and for the rest of you who want to slice my head off because I've kept you waiting. **

**Ideas are always welcome and I know I've said it before and it hasn't always happened. But reviews really do make me write faster. I'm really insecure about everything I write. I always think it's awful and that no one will like it and your reviews really do make my day. I'm up to 51 of you on alert for this story and 22 on favorites. So please please please tell me what you think. Just take the time to write a one or two sentence review please. It would really make my day and I'm trying to think up ideas for all my stories so any suggestions at all will be taken happily. **

**Sorry for the long rant-ish author's note. Love you guys. **


	11. Developments

Jace woke up feeling groggy and tired, despite the fact that he could tell he has slept for quite a while. He wasn't in as much pain as he was the first time he woke up but he still groaned in pain as he pulled himself slowly into sitting position. Even that made him, a skilled shadowhunter tired. He closed his eyes leaning his head back against the wall behind him. He wasn't even sure what was going on and he was putting his trust into some man that he didn't even know. Speaking of the man, where was he? He was there the last time Jace woke up but he didn't appear to be anywhere now.

Jace glanced out the small window on the opposite wall and saw that it was pitch black outside. The only light in the room was a small flickering candle on the table tucked away in the corner. He glanced down and saw a couple of torn bandages next to him, covered with blood. Probably his, he thought. As the thought popped into his head he looked down and grabbed the hem of his shirt pulling it up to wear he saw the wound before. There were no bandages this time so Jace saw it for what it actually was. Considering he had just been stabbed in the stomach by a random demon on the streets it didn't look too terrible. The wound was roughly 5 inches in diameter and around the edges of it shiny new pink flesh has already begun to form. But in the center it was ragged dry and caked blood that hid how deep the wound actually was. But Jace concluded that it was much better than before.

With that in mind, he pulled himself up to stand and looked around the room trying to ignore the throbbing in his head. There was nothing much to do in the room besides to leave it and that's just what he did. Slowly but surely he made is way out to the narrow hallway that was just about as brightly lit as his bedroom. There were three other doors in the hall, but that he checked were locked. His was the farthest from a staircase that loomed over a grim looking foyer. He slowly made his way down the steps making a couple of them creak as he did.

Jace made a mental note of everything he saw, seeing what could be used as weapons although he saw nothing at all to show that this house would ever belong to a shadowhunter.

After searching the entirety of the house it appeared to be empty. Since he figured Christopher wouldn't be one just to pack up and leave he checked all of the rooms again and even the locked rooms which just looked like more spare bedrooms to him. Is that how this guy gets off? He thought to himself. Just as he stumbled down the stairs for the third time feeling defeated the door handle began to turn slowly. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck prick up as he grabbed a broom that leaned against the corner nearest the steps. It wasn't the greatest of weapons and he was in a terrible position to fight but he didn't really have much of a choice at this point.

He gripped onto the broom tightly bracing himself against the wall to save his strength for the intruder. The door pushed open slowly and for a moment all Jace could see was a shadow figure of someone who appeared to be holding a stele in one hand and knife in the other. When the figured walked cautiously into the room holding up the knife his breath caught. He dropped the broom on the spot and the figure turned on him as it gripped the knife even tighter.

"Jace," Clary breathed out, his gold eyes shining.

Wayward Lovers…Wayward Lovers

"I can't believe you lost her!" fumed Isabelle, who was busy tearing through the contents of the weapons room. She turned to face Alec pointing a knife at him accusingly. "You just let her create a portal in the middle of the street and take off without a fight!"

"I didn't know she was going to do it!" He protested. The two of them were in a small room of the Penhallow's house which they stayed in when they were in Idris just a few months ago.

"You were supposed to be watching her!" she yelled back at him. Alec knew it was futile fighting with Isabelle. Either way he was wrong so it didn't matter what he said. He was still guilty for losing Clary like that but he didn't really have a warning. One minute they were shopping for food and the next minute she was gone just like that.

"There was nothing I could do Izzy," said Alec with a sigh picking up a spare seraph blade and running one of his fingers across the flat side.

"There's no way she would just run away for no reason. He leg isn't even completely healed yet," Izzy protested. Alec nodded in response.

"I think it's pretty obvious where she went." That's all that was needed to be said. They contacted Magnus after the portal incident to find that he was safe but he had no idea where Jace was or what had happened to him. All he could say was that as soon as the portal closed the demons started to disappear and no one was left there after that. When he had heard that Jace was missing he responded by saying that he thought that Jace went with them through the portal and that they were safe in the city. All of this just made Clary more upset and she was more determined than ever to find Jace.

Isabelle just shook her head. Clary had been with them the whole entire time that they are in the city. She hadn't even left the house without one of them so there wasn't any way that she would be able to find Jace in the first place. Magnus was already working on some sort of tracking spell to find Jace and although there had been no luck they knew that they were going to find out sometime soon. But apparently Clary has other plans on what to do and when Clary wants to do something it gets done no matter how much she or anyone else would try to convince her otherwise.

"So what do we do?" asked Isabelle quietly. Alex just shrugged at her. He looked really confused and lost in the situation.

"Are you sure Magnus didn't send something to tell you where Jace is yet?" Isabelle crossed her arms and took her normal towering stance.

"He said he would tell me as soon as he found out where Jace was," Alec muttered quietly.

"Maybe he did already," Isabelle said quickly.

"I just told you he didn't, Isabelle!" She simply shook her head at him.

"No I mean what if she got the message and you didn't?" By the way she was talking Alec could tell that she was thinking this over as she was saying it and by the looks of it she wasn't enjoying where her own thoughts were going.

"You think she wouldn't tell us?" he raised an eyebrow.

"You know just as well as I do that she would go to hell and back for Jace no matter who got hurt in the process," she rolled her eyes at this statement and started pacing slightly around the room.

"So then how do we find her?" Alec ran a hand through his hair. This wasn't supposed to happen, none of this was supposed to happen. He had thought once Valentine was dead that all of this would be over. But now apparently they had more issues to worry about with both Jace and Clary all over again.

"Well we can just call Magnus now and see if he knows where Jace is, yet. That's probably where Clary is," suggested Izzy. Alec nodded once.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" asked Izzy in a hushed tone that she rarely ever used. Isabelle wasn't one to show any sort of weakness to everyone but this was different.

"What's the worst that could happen?" he replied with the most Jace-like smirk that he could muster.

Wayward Lovers…Wayward Lovers

Christopher walked briskly in the cool air of the nighttime. He was dressed in a dark overcoat and a top hat that matched the dark brown color of his eyes. There was a seraph blade attatched to the side of each of his hips. He was told that he wouldn't need to bring any sort of weapons but he didn't ever trust people whom he was supposed to be meeting 'privately. He'd dealt with enough people in the past to know that private meetings weren't always private and were often ambushed. But his weapons were concealed by his overcoat and with the coldness of the air it would at least seem like he was just wearing some more layers on anyways.

His senses became sharper as he neared the destination he was supposed to be meeting the boy. He knew he wasn't a boy technically but at the same time he was. The way that he thought he could revolutionize was like a child. He was old enough to realize that he couldn't change the world with a flick of the wrist. His dreams were shattered long ago when he was a child. Back when he thought that he would make the world's greatest shadowhunter, much like the boy he was caring for now. He heard rumors that the boys were brothers. Although the one with the lighter hair and darker eyes looked more like Valentine than Jace ever could. And that's just who he was going to see tonight.

The boy was capable of a lot he would give him that. He was a very capable fighter and had a brilliant mind like his supposed father. Yes, he had found out that Jace was not Valentine's actual son after their last meeting, when he was told to keep a watchful eye over Jace, the other boy. He didn't know exactly why but he was paid enough that it didn't really matter. Although in the past few days he had grown fond of the boy. He hadn't caused any trouble besides for the initial asking of questions. And besides that in the days that passed he spent most of his time slipping in and out of consciousness. His wounds were getting better though. He was never meant to get hurt but captured. That's why the boy had the warlock that summoned the demon killed. If it hadn't been for Christopher's swift action Jace would be dead. That's what Jonathon had said anyway.

Even though he was apprehensive about helping the son of Valentine he had nothing else to pursue. All of the loved ones and the ones that he cared about were gone or dead or would never speak to him for the rest of his life. He had long abandoned the shadowhunters but still kept up his physical training and slayed the occasional demon that crossed his paths, not that there had been many. It was a lonely life. A long time ago he had all the rooms of his house filled. And it was warm and full of life. Now the walls were bare and the house was as empty as it would be if no one lived in it at all. So Christopher did what he could for money. It was night lighthearted work and it often called for the killing of what used to be his whole entire life; shadowhunters.

But they had abandoned him and left him out to rot, and he would not try to help them again in any way. Besides, warlocks and demons paid much more money than shadowhunters ever would and that was enough.

By the time Christopher had gone through all of these thoughts he had reached the dark clearing where the two of them met before. It seemed like a shorter walk than before but maybe that was just because he was so deep in thought rather than trying just not to get lost. He glanced around the clearing but saw no sign of anyone. Last time he arrived the boy was already here and told him that he was there the whole day. He glanced at his watch and found that he was actually ten minutes late than when they were supposed to meet. Even though he thought he was early time did usually have a weird way of passing him by. He pulled his coat tighter around him to block out the cold air around him. The boy didn't seem like the tight to be late and he was rather particular about Jace.

He shrugged to himself and decided to wait. Jace would be asleep and there was nowhere else he needed to be and nowhere else he wanted to be. The moonlight shone on his face as he sat down in the soft bed of grass.

Wayward Lovers…Wayward Lovers

It was one in the morning when Magnus heard the pounding on his door. With a grunt, he pushed off of the couch and sauntered over to the door. He was in no rush nor did he want to see whoever was bothering him at this early. Well, maybe one person anyways. When he opened the door to find Alec he grinned and was about to make some sort of comment with some teasing innuendo about not being able stay away long but he saw Isabelle behind him and sighed realizing that this was not a normal visit. Instead he swung to door open for them waving them inside like he always did when he was greeted with this particular group of shadowhunters.

"What unstoppable crisis are we faced with this time?" he asked as though asking about the weather. When it didn't even crack a grin from either one of them he started to get a little worried.

"Clary's missing." It was Isabelle that said it and Alec was looking at him with a grave expression on his face.

"Missing as in you have no idea where she is?" he said with a slight annoyance in his voice. As much as he enjoyed their company they did have a knack for finding themselves in the oddest of situations.

"I'm not really sure what other kind of missing there is," snapped Isabelle. Magnus raised an eyebrow slightly surprised at her flare of temper.

"Well how did you manage to lose her?" her muttered choosing to ignore the fact that they both seemed frazzled beyond their normally short tempers.

"Alec lost her," Isabelle grumbled.

"I did not lose her!" he retorted turning to face his younger sister.

"You were supposed to be watching her and making sure she didn't run off" Isabelle took a similar stance as her brother clenching her fists slightly as she did.

"She mad a portal Isabelle! There was nothing I could do. It was gone by the time I even got there!" he shouted back at her, raising his voice to only be slightly louder than hers.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Magnus said shaking his head and raising his hands up in the air. "She made a portal in the middle of Idris? That's not possible." He had dealt with portals and the capital city of the shadowhunters before and he was never allowed to make one unless he had strict permission. After it was made and the people passed through it was immediately closed, no ifs and or buts about it.

"Apparently along with her normal talents she can now spring up portals wherever she damn well pleases," said Alec with a roll of the eyes.

"We think she went to go see Jace," Isabelle added, and Magnus thought he noticed her eyeing him suspiciously.

"You found Jace after all?" Magnus said dully. He had been searching for the golden haired angel boy for a few days now but had no luck. It was almost as if he disappeared off the face of the earth. Normally Magnus would have found some trace of something he could use to tell them even a very general location of where he was but he couldn't even find that.

"You mean you don't know where he is?" Isabelle ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "This is bad," she said to herself though she didn't try to hide it from the other two.

"So where did she go then?" asked Magnus. The warlock was tired from all of his days of work and all he wanted to do tonight was sleep but he had a duty to these kids and he would make sure to help them if they needed him.

"We thought she went by Jace, and you told her where she was," Alec muttered quietly.

"So you do know where Jace is?" asked the confused warlock.

"No, we have no idea where Jace is, and now we have no idea where Clary is and the only thing that we do know is that there is a strong possibility that the two of them are together." Naturally Magnus rolled his eyes seeing as they were now in an even worse predicament than before. He didn't even have words to match his frustration. It was Isabelle who broke the awkward silence.

"Is there anything you can do?" He looked over the both of them slowly seeing the desperation in their eyes and he nodded once noting the slight sigh of relief it elicited from both of them.

"There is one thing that I can try but it will take a great deal of the night and a bit of the morning and I am going to need both of your full attention and you will need to help. Alright?" Magnus gave a tired sigh and once he had gotten the nod of approval from both of them he set out to work.

Wayward Lovers…Wayward Lovers

"Jace," Clary broke into a grin as she dropped the stele onto the floor and ran into his welcoming arms. She breathed in the familiar scent for a brief moment before pulling back and cupping his face with both of her hands and started checking his face for any sign of injury. "Are you alright?" she asked quickly. Her eyes traveled down to where she knew that the most fatal blow had gotten him.

He chuckled lightly and put his hands on her waist kissing the top of her forehead. After which he extended his right arm down to the hem of the thin cotton t-shirt he wore and lifted it for her to see. A sigh of relief left her mouth and she hugged him tightly. It was still bad of course but she thought for sure that she would never see him the same again. And she whispered just that in his ear. He pulled back from the embrace and placed her forehead against his.

"Clary I would never leave you." He green eyes were shining but he could still see the shadow of doubt behind her happy expression.

"But I saw the demon, Jace. It could've killed you," her eyes started to well up with both tears of happiness and worry. She couldn't picture he life if she lost Jace. He was thing that pushed her and made her stronger than she could ever imagine being without him. He grinned slightly and moved his hands up to cup her face just as she was doing to him.

"I'm here now," he whispered. And for the moment that was enough for her. She sucked in a small breath as Jace bent down to kiss her. Her stomach jumped once his lips met hers but the feeling was over all too quickly and he looked into her eyes seeming to have other things on his mind than what she did.

"How long was I gone?" She felt goose bumps appear down her arms at the memory. All she had done was worry and pace for the last few days.

"We were supposed to all go through the portal five days ago," she muttered noticing Jace's slight grimace as she did.

"I was out longer than expected then...," he finally said before pulling his face back from his and instead his hands found their way around her waist holding her so closely that she thought he might never let go. The main thing was that Jace was here and he was safe to at least some extent.

"So," Clary started while glancing around the small room that the two of them were in. "Where are we?" Jace glanced around the room as well.

"We are at a man named Christopher's house," he mused.

"Who's Christopher?" Clary raised an eyebrow still searching his golden eyes for any hidden truths.

"Christopher is my rescuer," Jace said in a teasing sort of mood. He seemed to be particularly happy for someone who just almost died. The only thing that bugged Clary is she couldn't tell if it was an act or not.

"Who in the name of the Angel is that?" she asked a bit more loudly than she intended.

"The shadowy man that you saw before the portal incident…" he said quietly and placed his forehead back against hers. Clary simply raised an eyebrow in apprehension. "Trust me he is the reason that I am better. He seems fine enough and I'm sure he'll be back in a bit." But Jace could hear the hesitation in his own voice. He was still curious about Christopher. He wasn't sure whether or not the pair of them could put their trust into some man who claimed to be a shadowhunter and yet barely had a single thing in his house to prove that. If he could hear it in his own voice he was sure that Clary would be able to sense it too, but maybe there was a chance that it could slide under the radar.

"Where is he now?" she said after hesitating slightly. Her emerald eyes did not show anything that she was thinking. They were filled with concern and longing and he wanted nothing more than to hold her tightly and tell her that it was all going to be alright.

Jace faltered for the second time hearing the uneasiness in his own voice. "I'm not entirely sure." Clary just gaped at him for a moment.

"You mean he's gone?" she pulled her hands down from his face but he took them again quickly squeezing them once to try to calm her down a bit.

"He's not gone, alright. He probably just left to get groceries or something. But he said that he would take me to you if I cooperated." Knowing that he chose the wrong words he pulled his hands away from hers and returned them to cupping her face and tilted it up slightly so that she was looking directly into the golden eyes that she had come to love.

"So he threatened you!" It was her turn to reach up and squeeze his hands but it was to ensure herself that he was real and here and not just some fluke. He sighed realizing that this was going nowhere and shook his head slowly. He saw a flash of confusion cross her features and he waited a moment before speaking.

"He didn't threaten me. But he told me that he knew where you were and that he would take me to you once I was fully healed."

Before either of them could press more questions on each other Jace bent his head down quickly tugging her into a kiss. He slipped his lips over hers and began to feel his heart racing and he was sure that hers was doing the exact same thing. He reached his arms down to her waist wrapping them firmly around her slim figure as she pushed herself against him welcoming all of the sudden attention. Instead of going back to the questions he pushed forward both figuratively and literally.

Clary gasped as she was pushed up against the wall right next to the door. The heat of Jace's body radiated through his clothes and she moved her hands down from his shoulders to his abdomen grabbing his shirt in fistfuls as she pulled him harder against her. He groaned in response and pushed his tongue into her mouth while stepping his right leg in between hers. His hands rubbed against her side as she felt her tongue flicking against his in the way that only Clary did.

She began to pull back only slightly scraping her teeth against his bottom lip as she did but he immediately pulled her back in tangling his fingers into the red curls of her hair and he felt her body relaxing into his as they slowly melted into one another. Clary's head was spinning. This was the first time that she had kissed Jace in a long time especially like this. She was hungry for it. She wanted to kiss him for the remainder of the night with no one to stop them. As if sensing thing Jace began to kiss her harder and she squeezed her eyes tighter in response, pushing up on her toes to push up against him as much as she could manage with the height difference. She could feel the blood pumping in her ears as she reached down to grab the hem of his shirt again when she heard a small plate crash onto the floor.

The both of them froze stiff on the spot. Jace figured that Christopher had returned but he didn't seem like the type to be so clumsy with dishes. Jace pulled himself back from Clary slowly bracing himself from the onslaught of questions. And Clary turned her head to see the visitor. From her view should be able to see him for the first time. Her eyes widened with shock and she heard her take a sharp breath and her hand found his as she squeezed it tightly. He gave one quick glance to Clary before turning on his heel.

However, instead of the warm dark brown eyes, cold black ones met his. His chest tightened as the most recent intruder of the house began to grin. It was grin that made him sick to his stomach and he instinctively reached back to push Clary behind him.

"Hello Brother," sneered Sebastian.

**Authors Note Time (for those that actually read it):**

**Guess who got over writer's block! That is right! ME! Which means instead of considering these stories chores that I must complete for you guys I now consider them fun and interesting to write again which means you will not have to wait months for the next chapter on any of the stories! I PROMISE! But in all seriousness thank you to those who stuck around and offered me encouragement. It was just this big block in my head, literally. But it's gone now and I am free from the curse so down to business.**

**In my head I see at least a good 10 more chapters to this story and I think that seems an appropriate amount but to be fair to you guys who are some of the reason why I write these, feel free to offer ideas. PM me write in the comments anything. Please please please pelase, just review or talk to me do something. I am sure I have lost a great deal of interest for this story but it will get better. So you all know where the comment button is. So shoo**


	12. Intruders

"Sebastian," Jace muttered coolly. He pushed Clary firmly behind him but kept a firm grip on his hand.

The recent intruder walked around the house picking up various objects, observing them for a moment, and then setting them back down, not even acknowledging them. He looked deep in thought, contradicting how he first appeared, and Jace was growing more impatient by the second, his grip tightening on Clary's hand.

"He's changed things since the last time I was here," he said finally.

"You've been here before?" Jace muttered. Sebastian nodded and grinned. Oh how Clary hated that grin. It made her insides tighten and twist around.

"Yes," was the hushed answer that they received.

"Well you need to leave," Jace said taking a step towards him releasing his grip on Clary only slightly. He wanted to drive a knife through his cold dead heart and continue until he stopped squirming. The only thing stopping him from springing to the knife and doing so was the intense pain that he felt all over his body and the tight grip on his right hand that was Clary. Sebastian ignored him however and looked over his shoulder at Clary.

"I would like to talk to you," he said suddenly making her jump a little.

"You need to leave," Jace muttered impatiently.

"I would like to talk to Clary," he said.

Her eyes flickered to the knife on the floor that she dropped when she entered and immediately regretted it. She could reach for the knife in her boot but Sebastian would be able to tell and could easily attack Jace before was even halfway to the knife. His eyes followed her gaze and he grinned. Her insides twisted again and she tightened her grip on Jace's hand.

"Have I caught you unarmed, Clary?" he mused, rustling a growl from Jace who took another step forward. Sebastian raised his hands, palms outward in mock defeat.

"What do you want Sebastian," he glowered.

"I believe I already said that I wanted to talk with Clary," he said tilting his head a bit. His eyes searched the two of them for a moment and then he added in after thought, "Alone."

"You aren't going anywhere near Clary!" shouted Jace, resulting in a sudden pang of pain in both his chest and head.

"What do you want Sebastian," Clary said quietly giving Jace a little squeeze trying to calm him down a little.

"I want to talk to you," he repeated, seeming to get a bit more annoyed.

She could feel Jace tensing again and fearing that he would spring at him in his injured state she took a step in between the two resulting in an eyebrow raise from both of them. She was suddenly hit with the reality of how similar the pair of them could act at times.

"What did you want to talk about?" she asked mustering all of her strength and staring directly into his cold eyes.

"I thought that would be obvious to you at this point," he muttered.

"Excuse me?!" Clary said, her voice going up an octave. He came in here invading where he's not welcome and says he wants to 'talk'. The rational side of Clary's mind told her that she should run, take Jace with her and run. Or maybe stab him. But somewhere in the back of her mind she was reminded that he hadn't actually made any move to attack her which was strange for him. From what she could see he didn't have any weapons on him but shadowhunters always had weapons on them, even him. Especially him.

"Clary," Jace said warningly tugging at her wrist trying to get her to go back behind him. Strong as he was she was just as stubborn and given his weakened state and her reluctance the attempt was futile.

"What do you want?" she growled at Sebastian. But he was no longer paying attention to her. Instead he was looking over her shoulder to Jace who was just glaring at him coldly.

"You haven't told her?" he smirked. Clary turned to look at Jace who had gone pale and she looked from Jace to Sebastian quickly.

"Told me what?" she asked. When there was no response she tugged away from Jace who let out a small gasp at the loss of her touch and a triangle was formed between the three of them. "Told me what?" she asked more urgently.

"You really haven't told her," Sebastian laughed shaking his head slightly. Jace glared at him taking a threatening step towards him.

"I want to know what the hell you put in her head!" he shouted again.

"I haven't put anything in her head!" Sebastian shouted back. The two boys just glared at each other and Clary was again struck with how similar they could be.

"Told me what," she repeated quieter than she had even the first time. Black and gold eyes met hers and a heavy silence filled the room.

"She really doesn't know?" Sebastian asked directed towards Jace but his eyes remained locked on hers. Jace let out an annoyed sound and shoved Sebastian who instead of attacking back just took a step backwards, widening the triangle between them, but this time the two of them were closer to each other and further away from Clary.

"She is none of your damn business," he said.

"As I recall she is my sister," he said simply.

"As I recall you want us both dead," Jace retorted. Sebastian shook his head and looked over at Clary.

"Have you been feeling strange lately?"

"What!?" she gave an undignified screech of frustration.

"Have you been feeling strange? Anything bothering you?" he sounded actually concerned. Jace turned to look at him incredulously.

In a swift and not all that graceful dive she leapt for the dagger that lay in the middle of the hallway floor and pointed it at Sebastian who hadn't moved an inch. He just watched her carefully, eyeing her like a sick patient at the hospital.

"Get. Out," she breathed raggedly. Jace took a step towards her but she did not acknowledge him.

"I went through all that trouble to get Christopher out of the house to talk to you," he muttered. "The least you could do is talk."

"The least I could do is drive this knife through your heart," she sneered. "That is if you had one."

"You got Christopher out?" Jace turned again to face Sebastian and the triangle retuned to its original equilateral shape.

"I said I wanted to talk, didn't I?" Sebastian was starting to get a bit impatient and so was Jace.

"You didn't even know Clary was going to be here."

"I consider it a nice added bonus," he said looking at Jace momentarily and then turned his attention back to Clary. "So any funny feelings?"

"You came here to talk about my feelings?" she scoffed.

"More or less," he smirked. Jace rolled his eyes.

"Look if you're going to attack us you might as well get it done with so you can go on your merry way," he muttered.

"I'm not here to fight. I don't even have any weapons to do so," he said digging into his pockets and he turned them out revealing nothing. He didn't appear to have a weapons belt and he lifted his shirt enough to reveal that there wasn't one stuffed in a random belt loop and he raised the leg of his pants to show that there were none attached to his ankles. Jace just stared at him unsure of what he was supposed to say or think and Clary raised an eyebrow. This was not the Sebastian that they knew and hated.

"What do you want?" she asked. As he opened his mouth to speak she cut in. "And don't say you're here to talk. What do you want to talk about and why? What do you want?"

"Well it appears I've caught myself in a little," he paused for dramatic effect. "Situation."

"What kind of situation?" Jace asked immediately. Clary glanced at his face; his eyes were clouded with confusion and his muscles were tensed. She could tell he wanted to attack but was holding back. For whatever reason she wasn't entirely sure but she had a feeling to do it was because she was here.

"A situation that I no longer have control over," he said slowly, Clary could tell he was picking through his words carefully. Jace rolled his eyes and took a threatening step towards Sebastian who stayed where he was unaffected by it.

"What happened?" Clary asked wanting to move things along. Sebastian's eyes bore into Clary's and he let out a small sigh, then he looked toward Jace.

"I'm not the one who's trying to get into Clary's head," he said.

"What!" Clary looked incredulously at Jace who was staring at Sebastian. The imaginary triangle that was binding them together seemed to have strengthened and denied Clary the courage she needed to turn and run.

"Bullshit," Jace muttered. He was ignoring her completely now. Whether on purpose or just because of the situation she wasn't entirely sure.

"It's not. I could prove it to you if you'd like, but I need your help," he said quietly.

"You need our help?" Clary shouted hysterically. She still had no idea what was going on but she wasn't about to help out the one person in this world who she was frightened of; he was also the one person in the world Jace was frightened of. Speaking of Jace, Clary looked to him and he just had an eyebrow raised eyeing Sebastian carefully.

"Why the _hell_ would we help you," he said viciously. Sebastian was not phased at all with the coldness that he was being treated with.

"Because I'm asking you to. After all, the three of us are the closest thing either of us has to family." He looked completely sincere. And the most innocent that Clary had ever seen him. Silence.

"What do you need from us?" she whispered finally.

Wayward Lovers…Wayward Lovers

"So you have no idea where they are?" asked Alec softly. Magnus shook his head gravely.

"No," Magnus whispered. "I don't."

"Is there anything…" he started to say but quieted down once Magnus was shaking his head again.

"They are currently intractable, that's all I can tell you."

"But they're still alive?" Alec asked. A small smile appeared across Magnus's lips and he gave a small chuckle.

"Well, knowing Clary, she's with Jace. Knowing Jace, he's with Clary. Knowing them both," he sighed. "I hardly think that the two of them would let the other die."

"Do you honestly believe that?" Alec asked even though he already knew the answer. Magnus nodded and leaned over giving him a soft kiss on the lips then pulled back watching him closely.

"Besides, wouldn't you feel it if you're parabatai?"

"I suppose so," Alec muttered and looked over at Isabelle. She was flung across the couch breathing heavily in a deep and what looked to be peaceful sleep. She looked much more innocent when she was asleep, but just as beautiful she did in those outfits that the boys who chased her so often fantasized her in.

"It's been a long day," Magnus murmured following his partners gaze.

"Yea," he whispered quietly back.

"Hey," Magnus said softly nudging Alec's shoulder. He wasn't normally this soft or gentle but he felt like Alec needed it after today. "It's going to be fine. You'll be okay."

"It's not me I'm worried about," he said still looking to his sister.

"She'll be okay. Clary will be okay," he sighed and paused for a while. "Jace will be okay."

"You don't know that," he snapped suddenly.

"Sure I do," he said a bit louder than the two of them had been speaking in an attempt to get to a lighter atmosphere.

"Why's that?" Alec muttered with the roll of these eyes. Magnus sighed and put a hand on his arm and he felt Alec relax slightly under him.

"I just told you," he said with a small laugh threatening to spill over. "He's your parabatai. He would not leave you."

"He might," Alec said bitterly.

"Now why do you think that?" Magnus asked a bit surprised.

"For her," he said simply. Magnus did not need to ask who he was talking about.

"Just because they are together doesn't mean you're alone now," he replied.

"I feel alone, Magnus." Alec's shoulders slumped and he sat forward from their perch on the couch perpendicular from the one Isabelle was sleeping on. "Mom and dad are always busy, Izzy's mad at me, Jace is either getting cut up or with Clary, and I hardly get to see you!"

Magnus's brow creased in worry as he watched Alec, who was normally so calm and in control, sit there and talk about how he felt alone. He tightened his grip on his arm and pulled him back against the couch so that they were touching each other again, shoulder to shoulder and leg to leg. They stayed sitting like that quietly for a while, touching but not really. Eventually Magnus stretched his arm over Alec's shoulder and pulled him closer so that they were touching more. He gave a quiet sigh and reached down with his other arm and gripped Alec's hand tightly, giving it a nice comforting squeeze.

"For whatever it's worth, I'm here for you," he tried looking into Alec's eyes for his reaction. He saw a ghost of a smile appear on his lips and then he gave a small nod.

"I know," he whispered. They sat quietly again for a while and after a long lull in conversation Magnus took Alec by the chin lifted his face up and kissed him full on the mouth. At first there was no response at all from him, but then the dam broke and he started kissing him fervently sliding his hand up from his side to squeeze Magnus's leg and then up to his chest. They broke apart suddenly, both unsure of why. Suddenly, Isabelle stirred in her sleep and Alec grinned for the first time in ages.

"If we're going to do this I rather we not do it in front of my sister," he said quietly.

"Agreed," Magnus said quickly and took Alec by the hand and led him to the bedroom.

Wayward Lovers…Wayward Lovers

"So there's a demon in my head," Clary said quietly after Sebastian had finished explaining the situation. He nodded his eyes flicking quickly from Jace to Clary.

"And possibly Jace's," he added.

Jace was sitting quietly in the armchair his elbows on his knees and his head in his hand, fingers entwined in his hair. The three of them had made their way from the hallway to the living room. Sebastian had hastily set up a fire while Clary and Jace watched his every move, Clary occasionally watching Jace to make sure he wasn't in too much pain. The stele was firmly tucked in Clary's hand and the knife in Jace's lap. Sebastian still appeared to have no weapons.

"What are you playing at," Jace said starting to laugh a little and he looked up at Sebastian. "You've spent your entire life waiting to kill me, you tried to kill me, you killed my brother," Clary winced as he raised his voice. "And now you want my help!"

"Your and Clary's both. Yes." He raised his eyebrows like he didn't understand what the problem was.

"You're insane you know that!" he shouted.

"I'm trying to help you both," he said simply.

"Why?" he yelled, the pounding in his head intensified. "So you can kill us at the last second!" He slumped down to the chair exhausted. Oh, he was very exhausted. The only reason he wasn't fighting is because of his injuries, that and Clary was here. There was no way in hell that he was going to risk her safety. Besides, he had taken inventory of the room at least five times for weapons to use once he was sure his "brother" would attack.

"Jace are you alright?" Clary whispered.

"No," he muttered stubbornly.

An awkward silence fell upon them and Clary bit her lip. While she hated Sebastian with all of her mind, body, and soul he hadn't tried to attack them yet. And he had given them valuable information and from what she had been told, some of it Jace already know. So what reason did she have to think that all of the rest of it wasn't true? Besides the fact that it was Sebastian and she wanted him dead more than any other being on the planet that is. That and the fact that out of all the things he's done and all the people he's killed that he was actually asking them for help. She never in a million years thought she would be in a living room preparing for some catastrophe with the person she loved and hated the most in this world.

"May I have a word with Jace?" she looked at Sebastian who just stared at her for a few seconds. "Alone…" He gave a small nod and left the room and went to what Clary presumed to be the kitchen.

"You're not actually thinking about joining with him are you?" Jace stammered once he figured he was out of earshot.

"You heard what he said," she whispered.

"Yes I did," Jace said coldly.

"I could die, Jace," she whispered.

"I know," he whispered back. The two of them were silent for a few minutes. Only the sound of creaky steps of the floor in the kitchen interrupted the silence.

"What do you want to do?" she asked finally.

"I'm not sure," he said honestly looking down at his hands.

"You could die too," she breathed. "If his suspicions are right."

"I know," he muttered.

"I will not let you die Jace," she grumbled.

"So you just want to do what he says?" he looked up at her with fierce eyes that made her back down considerably.

"We don't really have a choice in the matter, Jace."

"I know," he said.

"Will you stop saying that!" she said raising her voice a bit. He sighed and held up his hands. It reminded her of what Sebastian did not even half an hour ago.

"What would you like me to say?"

"Something that will help us," she said pathetically.

"I think we're sort of screwed as it is, Clary," Jace said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. She couldn't help the smile that teased the corner of her mouth.

"So you do believe him?" she asked. "You think what he says is true?"

"It makes sense," he said.

Sebastian suddenly appeared in the doorway and they both looked up at him.

"I don't mean to be rude," he said slowly. "But I really do need to go. And I would like an answer before I do.

"Well mean it or not, you're a rude and arrogant asshole," Jace retorted. Sebastian was unphased and he looked at Clary and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"We don't know," she said quietly. He let out a small sigh but nodded.

"I understand why you don't trust me," he said. Jace snorted.

Clary stayed silent.

There was a rustle of movement outside and Sebastian looked apprehensive for the slightest movement.

"I'm sure Christopher will be back soon."

Still silence.

"I'll come back in three days to see if that helps any."

Silence.

"I'll be going now."

Silence.

Jace watched carefully as Sebastian made his way to the door and left without another word. He locked eyes with Clary briefly and stood up with a painful grunt. Clary was at his side in a second flat and had her arms around him holding him up. His heart was beating so fast that Clary thought it might pop out of his chest out onto the floor. He looked at her, reached out a hand, and stroked her cheek gently.

"You came here for me," he grinned and Clary couldn't help but grin back at him.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Are you going to stay?" he asked.

"I think so," she whispered shifting slightly to try to support a bit more of his weight.

"What of Isabelle and Alec?" he mused.

"I'll call them in the morning," she whispered. She kissed his cheek softly and pulled back looking up at him through her eyelashes.

"Alright," he grinned.

"But right now, I want something to eat," she took his hand and led him to the kitchen.

Wayward Lovers…Wayward Lovers

An hour later, Christopher was on his way back home. He shouldn't have actually expected the boy to come. This wasn't the first meeting that he had blown off and it probably wouldn't be the last. He was, however, looking forward to the money that he would receive for taking care of the boy. At least the boy talked to him and didn't leave him useless instructions and then ignore him for weeks at a time. Maybe he should be a bit nicer to him.

He made his way down the path allowing the wind to rip through his hair and mess it up. He bit his lip softly for a moment. He would make dinner for the boy, yes that's what he would do. Make sure he was all bandaged and then contact Magnus. The boy should be suitable to go back to his friends soon. He was getting much better and he should be able to portal safely within a few days. Maybe he would be able to talk to them to. Tell them he was alright. After all, he was just supposed to make sure the boy was healthy and alive for when he was needed. He had done his share and he didn't want to hurt the boy. Despite telling himself not to he was starting to become a bit attached to him and he didn't want him to be any more upset than he was already.

Christopher heard a rustle in the trees behind him, an unnatural rustle that he knew wasn't caused by wind. He paused and put his hand on the hilt on his seraph blade. He blood began to pound as the adrenaline kicked in.

"Jonathon?" he called out. It might have been the boy coming late. He had his suspicions but it was entirely possible.

There was no response and there was no more rustling. He looked around one more time and then continued on his path this time much more focused on his surroundings than the thoughts clouding his head. He heard the sudden rustle of wind and then nothing. The wind stopped. He looked up at the starts for a moment, locating a few constellations that he could pick out. The moon was half full and shone down heavenly to illuminate the trees surrounding him.

WHAM!

His world went black.

**Authors Note:**

**Yes I know you hate me for not updating it. But it seems I have lost some interest in it anyways. You guys know I like reviews…and I know you like chapters…so…I gots a little proposition for you.**

**10 reviews=the story will be updated within the month **

**20 reviews=the story will be updated within the week**

**Positive or negative, you know I don't mind. There are 60 of you on alert and I know more than that read. Have at it. Don't hate me please. At least not too much**

**Azallea**

**Very Excited About the New Mortal Instruments Trailer, Anxiously Waiting Writer, and Procrastinator Extraordinaire **


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